The Voivodeship Administrative Court (VAC) in Warsaw in a judgment of 19 November 2009, case file VI SA/Wa 703/09 ruled that the entitled person to file a request for invalidation of a right in registration of an industrial design may be an owner of the industrial design registered with an earlier priority, if the existence of this deisgn is an obstacle to the novelty or individual character of the later design. The entitled person to file a request for invalidation may also be an entrepreneur that produces a product with a solution that is covered by the wrongly granted right in registration and to whom this wrongly granted right interferes with the freedom of business establishment and operation.

This case concerned the industrial design “Stelaż fotela” (in English: seat frame), Rp-8808.

This judgment is not yet final. A cassation complaint may be filed to the Supreme Administrative Court.

See also my post entitled “Polish case law on industrial designs“.

Categories: Art. 102 IPL | Art. 103 IPL | Art. 117 IPL | Polish Act on Industrial Property Law | Polish Patent Office | Polish courts | Polish law | Voivodeship Administrative Court | industrial designs | invalidation of a right in registration | novelty of an industrial design.