In a recent judgement, the General Court of the EU considered
whether a design application filed in bad faith would automatically
render it invalid. Koen de Winder explains the arguments and the
reasoning behind the General Court's decision.
A design registration protects the appearance of a product or a
part thereof - in this case, the design of a scooter. A design is
eligible for protection if it is new and has an individual
character. This means that the design may not be identical to an
existing design and it must make a different general impression on
the informed user than any existing designs.
Design registrations can be challenged on the basis of the
grounds set out by the European Designs Regulation and may be
declared invalid. If so, that annulment will have retroactive
effect to the moment of registration. In other words, the design
registration will be deemed never to have existed.
