Invalidity · first instance · 2021-11-30
000110063
Contested design: 006402582-0002
Outcome
The invalidity application is upheld, the contested RCD is declared invalid, and the holder must bear fixed costs of EUR 750.
Show verbatim operative text
1. The application for a declaration of invalidity is upheld. 2. Registered Community design No 0064025820002 is declared invalid. 3. The holder bears the costs, fixed at EUR 750.
CostsHolder ordered to pay costs of €750
Parties
Applicant · invalidity challenger
Profplastvia PDF extraction
Poland (PL)
Stary Węgrzynów 39, 28350 Słupia Jedrzejowska, Poland
Represented by
Anna Maja Sokołowska-Ławniczak
Holder · RCD owner
Nuitech LTDvia PDF extraction
United Kingdom (GB)
C220d Trident Business Centre 89, Bickersteth Road, London, City of London SW17 9SH, United Kingdom
Prior art cited (1)
double plastic clamping profiles for air filters
PF1B2 and PF1C2 · Applicant's 2015 PDF catalogue, 2017 invoices, and ASMP webpage archived by the Wayback Machine · disclosed 2016-11-01
Legal grounds invoked
Argument summary
- ›The applicant argued that its PF1B2 and PF1C2 plastic clamping profiles had been publicly marketed and shown online before the filing date, so the contested air-filter profile lacked novelty and individual character.
- ›The holder replied that the application really relied on Article 25(1)(d) CDR, that disclosure was unproven, and that differences in colour, shoulders and other details gave the contested design a different overall impression.
- ›The Division treated the case as based on Article 25(1)(b) CDR, accepted the catalogue, invoices and Wayback Machine evidence as proving prior disclosure, and found the informed user to be familiar with ventilation and filter profiles.
- ›It found at least average designer freedom and held that the common profile shape, hooked connecting elements and overall configuration outweighed the minor colour, gap and notch differences.
- ›The application was upheld because the contested design produced no different overall impression from the prior PF1B2/PF1C2 profile and therefore lacked individual character.
Deciding panel
- MemberLudmila CELISOVA
- MemberRebecca SANTANA DAVIES
- MemberRasa BARAKAUSKIENE
Decision files
| Language | Type | Source link |
|---|---|---|
| esespañol (es) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| frfrançais (fr) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| ititaliano (it) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| enEnglish | original | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
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