UKIPO to update design guidance after Trunki ruling

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) will update its guidance for designers following the UK Supreme Court’s ruling in the Trunki case, a director has revealed.

According to Rosa Wilkinson, the IPO’s director of innovation, the office is set to update its guidance to reflect last week’s judgment.

Wilkinson tweeted yesterday, March 14: “IP press is abuzz with Trunki case outcome. @The_IPO will update its guidance for UK designers to reflect judgment.”

In a hotly awaited judgment, handed down last week, the UK Supreme Court  upheld a ruling that the Kiddee Case did not infringe a registered Community design (RCD) covering the award-winning Trunki case.

The Supreme Court judges expressed sympathy for Trunki inventor Rob Law, describing the case as “original and clever”.

But the court affirmed a previous ruling from the English Court of Appeal that said the ornamentation and colours on the Kiddee Case should be considered as part of the overall assessment of infringement.

“The effect of this analysis is that the Court of Appeal was right to hold that the design claimed in this case was for a wheeled suitcase in the shape of a horned animal, but that it was not a claim for the shape alone, but for one with a strap, strips and wheels and spokes in a colour (or possibly colours) which contrasted with that of the remainder of the product,” Lord Neuberger wrote.

Magmatic, the company that manufactures Trunki cases, started selling them in 2006.

In 2012, Essex-based PMS International Group began selling the Kiddee Case, a line of cases in the shape of insects and tigers.

Magmatic, which owns an RCD covering the Trunki, sued PMS in 2013.

The English High Court initially sided with Magmatic in 2014 but the appeals court backed PMS after PMS appealed against the ruling.

WIPR has contacted the IPO for comment on its updated guidance and will report further details as and when we receive them.