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Archive for: Art. 102 IPL

Industrial design, case VI SA/Wa 211/09

September 29th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court (VAC) in Warsaw in a judgment of 29 September 2009, case file VI SA/Wa 211/09, held that the prerequisite for registration as an industrial design is the recognition that there is the “appearance of the whole or a part of a product”, and therefore the subject of the application is visible on the outside. This assumption was based on the provisions of according to article 102(1) of the Polish Act of 30 June 2000 on Industrial Property Law – IPL – (in Polish: ustawa Prawo własności przemysłowej) of 30 June 2000, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 2001 No 49, item 508, consolidated text on 13 June 2003, Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 119, item 1117, with subsequent amendments.

Any new and having individual character appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, colours, shape, texture or materials of the product and its ornamentation, shall constitute an industrial design

The conditions of novelty and individual character should be examined later. An invisible item, hidden from the visual perception of the buyer, or the “end user” (consumer) does not constitute an industrial design. It does not have a form of “a product” which meas its appearance. It’s not about the appearance of the component of a product which is visible after separated from the whole, but it is about the possibility to get visually acquainted with it when you buy it, and especially – during the so-called normal use.

This case concerned the industrial design “Ogranicznik wylewu” (in English: overflow limiter), Rp-9737.

Wzór Przemysłowy 9737

Industrial design law, case VI SA/Wa 746/09

August 23rd, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Polish Patent Office registered the design of a bottle in the form of a contour map of Poland Rp-11003, applied for by Przedsiębiorstwo Wielobranżowe Euro-Kamil Polska sp. z o. o. from Wrocław.

Rp-11003

Jacek Andruszkiewicz from Warszawa filed a request for invalidation of this design. Mr Andruszkiewicz argued that the questioned design lacks of novelty. He pointed out to the 3D trade mark registration R-91920 owned by Jacek Andruszkiewicz Jolanta Duch s.c. DAYGLOB Biuro Exportowo-Importowe from 6 October 1995.

R-91920

The PPO invalidated the right in registration in its decision of 14 January 2009, case file Sp. 555/07. The PPO held that Jacek Andruszkiwicz had a legal interest in seeking the invalidation, as a competitor in the market of bottles. Euro-Kamil filed a complaint against this decision.

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw in its judgment of 22 June 2009, case file VI SA/Wa 746/09 repealed the contested decision and held it unenforceable. The Court ruled that the PPO did not examine if the legal interest was real and sent this case for reconsideration.

Industrial design, case VI SA/Wa 536/09

June 28th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court (VAC) in Warsaw in a judgment of 8 June 2009, case file VI SA/Wa 536/09, held that according to article 102(1) of the IPL the appearance of the whole or a part of a product decides about the possibility to qualify it as an industrial design, i.e. its appearance – visually perceived elements of a product that constitute a single entirety, not the product itself and its functional value or utility.

This judgment concerned the industrial design “Obudowa dzwonka” (in English: bell casing), Rp-5041.

Wzór Przemysłowy 5041

Industrial design, case VI SA/Wa 502/09

June 10th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court (VAC) in Warsaw in a judgment of 2 June 2009, case file VI SA/Wa 502/09, ruled that the examination of the novelty of an industrial design consists of carrying out a comparative analysis of various elements of a solution included in the opposed design and the industrial design applied for the registration and next, indicating of the existing differences and resolving what is their nature.

This judgment concerned the industrial design “Zestaw podstawek reklamowych Ring Fala” (in English: Set of advertising coasters Ring Fala), Rp-11780.

Wzór Przemysłowy 11780

Industrial design law, case VI SA/Wa 1827/08

December 12th, 2008, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court (VAC) in Warsaw in a judgment of 11 December 2008, case file VI SA/Wa 1827/08, ruled that the protection of an industrial design may only apply to the appearance of an object – its external appearance, not to its internal structure. The cassation compliant bought before the Supreme Administrative Court was rejected in a decision of 16 December 2009, case file II GSK 238/09.

Wzór Przemysłowy Rp-9201

This judgment concerned the industrial design “Zadaszenie drzwi” (in English: door canopy), Rp-9201. See also “Polish regulations on industrial designs” and “Polish case law on industrial designs“.

Industrial design law, case VI SA/Wa 1088/08

August 12th, 2008, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court (VAC) in Warsaw in a judgment of 11 August 2008, case file VI SA/Wa 1088/08, ruled that it is not enough to prove that the design applied for differs from opposed designs, but it must also be proved that it does not contain the characteristics of these designs – further – that it is not in fact the sum of the characteristics of these designs, it is not a combination of opposed designs.

This judgment concerned the industrial design “Wiadro” (in English: bucket), PRZ-1077.

Industrial design law, case VI SA/Wa 1215/07

January 2nd, 2008, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw in its judgment of 11 October 2007, case file VI SA/Wa 1215/07 decided on the novelty of an industrial design based on electronic evidences. The court ruled that such evidences are not sufficient. A CD print-out from a database can not be treated as a legal document with an unquestionable date since there are graphical tools which make a modification of such data an easily possibility. In this case such a proof can not be deemed a proper evidence if it is not properly certified. Also a statement issued by a private company is not enough unless it is supported by invoices or official publications of catalogues of exhibitions where such product was shown. A compact disk has to be certified by an expert as regards to a date it was burned.

This case concerned the industrial design “Rękojeść sztućców” (in English: handle for cutlery), Rp-6048.

Rp-6048

The Supreme Administrative Court in its judgment of 29 July 2008 case file II GSK 267/08 upheld this decision.

Industrial design, case II GSK 277/06

March 28th, 2007, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) in a judgment of 20 March 2007, case file II GSK 277/06, published in the electronic database LEX, under the no 321283, ruled on the definition of the appearance of the product.

It refers to the appearance given by certain characteristics or patterns perceived visually and thus causing certain general impression while watching the product of which the design has been applied or is included, in the form in which it occurs in the market during the presentation and the acquisition of goods. Elements of the goods that are not visible or because of its characteristics may not be visible without a significant change in the form of a product during its examination on the market, are not relevant for assessing novelty and individual character of the industrial design, and thus cannot be protected.

This case concerned the industrial design “Lód ekstrudowany jednosmakowy z nadzieniem” (In English: ice cream extruded with single taste stuffing), Rp-7461.

Wzór Przemysłowy 7461