NautaDutilh recently marked an important victory before the Mons
Court of Appeal in Belgium.
Philippe Péters represented the claimants, two large
French automotive makers, against the distributors of non-original
car body parts. The action was intended to put a halt to this
activity, notably on the basis of copyright law.
The court confirmed that the parts for which the claimants
sought copyright protection each have their own original character
and that the functions they fulfil could be achieved using models
very different from those which the car makers had adopted at the
end of a creative process, in the course of which choices were made
based not only on technical constraints such as aerodynamics,
interior space and visibility (....) but also for the purpose of
contributing to the general aesthetics of the vehicle in which the
parts are used. The choices that were made go beyond know-how.
Individually, the parts, which make up one component of a complex
whole,
