Invalidity · first instance · 2018-12-19
000101959
Contested design: 004710861-0001
Outcome
The invalidity application is upheld, the contested Registered Community design is declared invalid, and the holder must bear the applicant's costs fixed at EUR 750.
Show verbatim operative text
The application for a declaration of invalidity is upheld. Registered Community design No 004710861-0001 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
Nándor Szőnyi
SK
ul. E. B. LUKÁCA 1356/36, 94501 Komárno, Slovakia
Represented by
Holder · RCD owner
Matthew Bembridge, @theGym / The Gym Revolutionvia PDF extraction
United Kingdom (GB)
Rear of Gould Autoplates, Blackfriars Road, Nailsea North Somerset bs48 4dj, United Kingdom
Prior art cited (4)
floor cushion for weights
UK registered design No 4041960 · United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office · disclosed 2015-07-03
screenshots from YouTube depicting floor cushions for weights
http://www.youtube.com · YouTube · disclosed 2015-08-05
screenshots from the Deadlift Deadener website showing ways to use the products
http://www.gymprofessor.com/ · gymprofessor.com
Internet Archive capture depicting the Deadlift Deadener
http://www.deadliftdeadener.co.uk/ · Internet Archive · disclosed 2016-01-10
Legal grounds invoked
Argument summary
- ›The applicant sought invalidity for lack of novelty and individual character, relying mainly on earlier UK registered design No 4041960 and additional web disclosures.
- ›The holder sent observations only after the response deadline and claimed earlier emails to the Office, but the Office found no incoming emails and decided the case on the merits.
- ›The Division held that publication of UK design No 4041960 by the UKIPO on 3 July 2015 constituted prior disclosure under Article 7 CDR and fell outside the 12-month grace period.
- ›Comparing the registered UK design with the contested RCD, the Division found no visual differences, so the RCD lacked novelty and had to be declared invalid.
- ›Because the application succeeded on novelty under Article 25(1)(b) and Article 5 CDR, the Division did not examine individual character or the other invoked prior disclosures further.
Deciding panel
- MemberBenjamin VAN BAVEL
- MemberLudmila ČELIŠOVÁ
- MemberBirgit FILTENBORG
Decision files
| Language | Type | Source link |
|---|---|---|
| enEnglish | original | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
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