Invalidity · first instance · 2018-09-28
000010838
Contested design: 003043207-0001
Outcome
The invalidity application is upheld, the contested RCD is declared invalid, and the holder must pay the applicant’s fixed costs of EUR 750.
Show verbatim operative text
The application for a declaration of invalidity is upheld. Registered Community design No 0030432070001 is declared invalid. The holder bears the applicant’s costs, fixed at EUR 750.
CostsHolder ordered to pay costs of €750
Parties
Applicant · invalidity challenger
Sturm Handels GmbH
Germany (DE)
Graf-Bentzel-str. 85, 72108 Rottenburg, Germany
Represented by
Holder · RCD owner
Grzegorz Mieszczak trading as HELIKON-TEXvia PDF extraction
Poland (PL)
ul. Radomska 34, 54-032 Wroclaw, Poland
Represented by
Halina Jósefa Winohradnik
Prior art cited (1)
Direct Action Dust rucksack
Product Catalogue 2014 · owner catalogue 2014 / airsoft-milsim-news.com · disclosed 2014-03-10
Legal grounds invoked
Argument summary
- ›The applicant sought invalidity for lack of novelty and individual character based on the holder’s earlier 2014 catalogue disclosure of the Direct Action/Dragon Egg backpack.
- ›The holder denied valid disclosure, argued the catalogue showed only a prototype, and maintained the contested design differed aesthetically and ergonomically from the earlier product.
- ›The Division found the catalogue and corroborating online evidence sufficient to prove disclosure in March 2014 under Article 7.
- ›It rejected the novelty ground because several visible differences were not immaterial, but held those differences did not change the overall impression given substantial design freedom.
- ›The RCD was therefore invalidated for lack of individual character, and costs were awarded against the holder.
Deciding panel
- MemberGailė SAKALAITĖ
- MemberAlvaro SESMA MERINO
- MemberNatascha GALPERIN
Decision files
| Language | Type | Source link |
|---|---|---|
| enEnglish | original | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
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