Invalidity · first instance · 2023-03-21
000119682
Contested design: 008648935-0001
Outcome
The invalidity application is upheld, the contested RCD is declared invalid, and the holder must bear EUR 750 in costs.
Show verbatim operative text
1. The application for a declaration of invalidity is upheld. 2. Registered Community design No 008648935-0001 is declared invalid. 3. The holder bears the costs, fixed at EUR 750.
CostsHolder ordered to pay costs of €750
Parties
Applicant · invalidity challenger
ALM Manufacturing Limitedvia PDF extraction
United Kingdom (GB)
Grimbald Crag Close, St James Business Park, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire HG5 8PJ, United Kingdom
Represented by
Holder · RCD owner
Yiwu Shunge Trading Co., Ltd.
China (CN)
Room 305, 3rd Floor, Unit 3, Bldg. 40, Pingchou Second Dist., Jiangdong St., Yiwu, Zhejiang 322000, China
Prior art cited (2)
ALM BQ026 plastic blades
http://almmanufacturing.com · Internet Archive Wayback Machine · disclosed 2019-04-24
Alm Clip On Blades (BQ026)
ASIN B002SHR4RA · www.amazon.co.uk · disclosed 2007-05-01
Legal grounds invoked
Argument summary
- ›The applicant argued the contested chaffcutter blade design lacked novelty and individual character because identical or very similar blades had long been sold online and through distributors.
- ›The holder filed no observations and left the applicant's evidence and arguments unrebutted.
- ›The Division accepted the Amazon and Wayback Machine evidence as prior internet disclosures and found the designer's freedom below average for this product.
- ›It held that the prior and contested blades created the same overall impression, so the design lacked individual character and had to be invalidated.
Deciding panel
- MemberRasa BARAKAUSKIENĖ
- MemberLudmila CELISOVA
- MemberIneta GALUBICKE
Decision files
| Language | Type | Source link |
|---|---|---|
| deDeutsch (de) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| 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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