Invalidity · first instance · 2019-04-01
000103740
Contested design: 004405678-0001
Outcome
The invalidity application is upheld; Registered Community design No 004405678-0001 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 004405678-0001 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
Hydratem8 Limited
United Kingdom (GB)
Unit 6, Five Oaks Business Park, Geddinge Lane, Wootton, near Canterbury, CT4 6RY, United Kingdom
Represented by
Holder · RCD owner
Cong Liu
China (CN)
No. 134, Shang Street, Yuxi Town, Dangyang City, Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China
Represented by
Prior art cited (1)
Hydratem8 bottle cap / lid design shown on the applicant's website and social-media posts
Internet Archive website captures, Facebook and YouTube/social media posts · disclosed 2015-12-22
Legal grounds invoked
Argument summary
- ›The applicant argued that the contested bottle-cap design lacked novelty and individual character over its earlier Hydratem8 lid disclosed online before the filing date.
- ›The holder filed no observations in reply and did not contest the applicant's evidence of prior online disclosure.
- ›The Division accepted the archived website, Facebook and YouTube/social-media evidence as solid, objective proof that the earlier design had been disclosed under Article 7 CDR.
- ›It found one non-immaterial difference, so novelty failed, but held that the shared cap shape, drinking mechanism and surface pattern created the same overall impression.
- ›The invalidity application was upheld, the RCD was declared invalid, and the holder was ordered to pay EUR 750 in costs.
Deciding panel
- MemberLudmila ČELIŠOVA
- MemberGailė SAKALAITĖ
- MemberNatascha GALPERIN
Decision files
| Language | Type | Source link |
|---|---|---|
| enEnglish | original | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
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