Invalidity appeal · Board of Appeal · 2024-06-13
R2499/2022-3
Contested design: 007009303-0002
Outcome
The appeal is dismissed, and the design holder must bear the costs of the invalidity and appeal proceedings.
Show verbatim operative text(de)
1. Die Beschwerde wird zurückgewiesen. 2. Die GGM-Inhaberin trägt die Kosten des Nichtigkeits- und des Beschwerdeverfahrens.
CostsHolder ordered to pay costs
Parties
Applicant · invalidity challenger
Balenciaga SASvia PDF extraction
France (FR)
16-18 rue de Vaneau, 75007 Paris, Frankreich
Represented by
Holder · RCD owner
Birkenstock IP GmbHvia PDF extraction
Germany (DE)
Burg Ockenfels, 53545 Linz am Rhein, Deutschland
Represented by
Prior art cited (1)
Next sandal model shown on Amazon.fr
ASIN B07B4D8QXS · Amazon.fr · disclosed 2018-03-01
Legal grounds invoked
Argument summary
- ›The design holder argued D1 was not reliably disclosed by the Amazon screenshot and, in any event, created a different overall impression from the contested sandal design.
- ›The invalidity applicant replied that the Amazon ASIN evidence sufficiently proved disclosure and that the two fur-lined double-strap sandals gave the same overall impression.
- ›The Board admitted the additional appeal-stage evidence and found the Amazon.fr listing with ASIN B07B4D8QXS reliably proved disclosure of D1 on 1 March 2018.
- ›Given the broad design freedom for sandals and only minor differences in fur texture and buckle visibility, D1 destroyed individual character.
- ›The appeal was dismissed and the design holder was ordered to pay the costs of both the invalidity and appeal proceedings.
Deciding panel
- ChairS. Stürmann
- RapporteurA. Pohlmann
- MemberE. Fink
- RegistrarH. Dijkema
Decision files
| Language | Type | Source link |
|---|---|---|
| enEnglish (en) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| frfrançais (fr) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| deGerman | original | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
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