Invalidity · first instance · 2018-04-30
000010292
Contested design: 001431829-0001
Outcome
The invalidity application is upheld, the contested RCD is declared invalid, and the holder must pay the applicants' total costs of EUR 1500.
Show verbatim operative text
The application for a declaration of invalidity is upheld. Registered Community design No 001431829-0001 is declared invalid. 3. The holder bears the applicants’ costs, fixed at EUR 750 for each applicant, EUR 1500 in total.
CostsHolder ordered to pay costs of €1,500
Parties
Applicant · invalidity challenger
Mystic Products Import & Export, SLvia PDF extraction
Spain (ES)
Carrer Guifre Nº 689, Badalona 08918, Spain
Represented by
Holder · RCD owner
Tinnus Enterprises, LLC
United States (US)
3429 18th Street, Plano, Texas, United States of America
Represented by
Prior art cited (2)
Article 'Bunch O Balloons will revolutionize water fights' showing the product.
www.arstechnica.com · Ars Technica · disclosed 2014-07-27
European patent application for the same water-balloon filling product.
EP 3 005 948 A2 · European Patent Office · disclosed 2016-04-13
Legal grounds invoked
Argument summary
- ›The applicants argued that every essential feature of the balloon-filling design was chosen solely to perform its technical function under Article 8(1) CDR.
- ›The holder said the housing, straws, balloons and bands also reflected aesthetic choices, so the design was not exclusively function-driven.
- ›The Division relied on the product's austere, disposable character and the near-identity with the patent embodiment to find no independent design effort.
- ›It concluded that all essential features were solely dictated by technical function and declared the contested RCD invalid in full.
Deciding panel
- MemberGailė SAKALAITĖ
- MemberLudmila ČELIŠOVÁ
- MemberMichele M. BENEDETTI-ALOISI
Decision files
| Language | Type | Source link |
|---|---|---|
| enEnglish | original | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
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