Invalidity appeal · Board of Appeal · 2024-01-29
R1747/2022-3
Contested design: 002610592-0001
Outcome
The appeal is dismissed, and the design holder must bear the invalidity applicant's costs and fees in the invalidity and appeal proceedings, fixed at EUR 1,250.
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, which are fixed at the amount of EUR 1 250.
CostsHolder ordered to pay costs of €1,250
Parties
Applicant · invalidity challenger
Frito-Lay North America, Inc.via PDF extraction
United States (US)
7701 Legacy Drive, 75024-4099 Plano, United States
Represented by
Holder · RCD owner
FAM,via PDF extraction
Belgium (BE)
Neerveld, 2, 2550 Kontich, Belgium
Represented by
Prior art cited (2)
corrugated crisp / snack food shape
RCD No 001301733-0001 · Community Designs Bulletin · disclosed 2011-11-04
corrugated crisp / snack food shape
RCD No 001301733-0008 · Community Designs Bulletin · disclosed 2011-11-04
Legal grounds invoked
Argument summary
- ›The invalidity applicant argued that the crisp design lacked individual character over two earlier registered Community designs, especially prior design D2.
- ›The design holder argued that the crisps market was saturated, the designer's freedom was constrained, and the contested crisp differed through its flatness and Gothic-style corrugations.
- ›The Board accepted disclosure of both earlier RCDs, rejected the saturation and technical-function arguments, and found that the contested crisp produced a very similar overall impression to D2.
- ›The appeal was dismissed and the invalidity decision was confirmed.
Deciding panel
- ChairS. Stürmann
- RapporteurM. Bra
- MemberH. Salmi
- RegistrarR. Vidal Romero
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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