Invalidity appeal · Board of Appeal · 2022-07-20
R0859/2021-3
Contested design: 006371126-0003
Outcome
The appeal is dismissed and the design holder must bear the invalidity applicant’s costs and fees in both instances.
Show verbatim operative text
1. Dismisses the appeal; 2. Orders the design holder to bear the costs and fees incurred by the invalidity applicant in the invalidity and appeal proceedings.
CostsHolder ordered to pay costs
Parties
Applicant · invalidity challenger
DOMINO POLSKA Spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością spółka komandytowavia PDF extraction
Poland (PL)
ul. Rzeźnicza 4, 58-200 Dzierżoniów, Poland
Represented by
Bartosz Szczepaniak
Holder · RCD owner
Schaffner Spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością Spółka Komandytowavia PDF extraction
Poland (PL)
Głogoczów 996, 32-444 Głogoczów, Poland
Represented by
Marek Mikosza
Prior art cited (2)
door handle
RCD No 3 241 124-0001 · Community Designs Bulletin · disclosed 2016-06-29
door handle prior design
CN303910749S · Chinese patent publication · disclosed 2016-11-16
Legal grounds invoked
Argument summary
- ›The design holder argued that market trends and functional constraints in the hardware sector meant that the similarities with the cited earlier handle designs should carry less weight.
- ›The invalidity applicant replied that earlier RCD No 3 241 124-0001 already produced the same overall impression and that the contested handle lacked individual character.
- ›The Board held that the prior RCD alone destroyed the individual character of the contested design because the remaining differences in edge angles, backplate and decorative insert were only minor variations.
- ›The appeal was dismissed and the design holder was ordered to bear the invalidity applicant’s costs and fees.
Deciding panel
- ChairG. Humphreys
- RapporteurS. Rizzo
- MemberC. Bartos
- Registrarp.o. E. Apaolaza
Decision files
| Language | Type | Source link |
|---|---|---|
| deDeutsch (de) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| esespañol (es) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| frfrançais (fr) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| ititaliano (it) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| enEnglish | original | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
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