A German company has a Hungarian patent that covers a fuel gun with a removable rear display surface.
A German company has a Hungarian patent that covers a fuel gun with a removable rear display surface. This consists of two planar surfaces following the plane of the barrel and handle portions of the fuel gun, which close to an obtuse angle with each other, and the planar surfaces meet along an edge line. The two planar surfaces are ideal to host advertisements or commercially important information.
A British supplier of fuel guns has a different design, in which an arced uniform display surface is arranged at the rear side of the fuel gun. A Hungarian gas company has used the British design at its petrol stations. The German company has sued the Hungarian user for patent infringement based on fairly broad patent claims, the scope of which extended over the existence of the two planar surface parts that meet along an edge.
The patent specification included examples showing only planar display surfaces meeting along an edge line, and the specification was silent on any possible use other than the one described and illustrated.
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HIPO, design, Supreme Court Of Hungary, fuel gun, nullity action
