Interpretation of community designs - the 'decanter' case

01-12-2012

Jens Künzel

Sometimes the images that the applicant for a design right submits do not disclose the subject matter of the design as clearly as one might hope.

Sometimes the images that the applicant for a desIgn right submits do not disclose the subject matter of the desIgn as clearly as one might hope. They sometimes even show different objects, or objects in different situations. A case like this came before Germany's Federal Supreme Court, which the court decided with a judgment rendered in March 2012.

The plaintiff in this case is the registered owner of a Community Design for the form of a wine decanter. The submitted images show the decanter in seven different views: our images show the decanter with a block-shaped base, three other images show it without the base. One of each group of images is reproduced below.

interpretation-of-community-designs-fig-1.jpginterpretation-of-community-designs-fig-2-1.jpg


Community designs, Germany Federal Supreme Court, decanter, interpretation

WIPR