Does Technical Function Impede Copyright? (April 2022)

The question of whether appearance features of utilitarian objects with technical functions can benefit from copyright protection has become a debated issue in recent years, and it has also started to find a place in the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). In the decision of the CJEU, dated June 11, 2020, and numbered C-833/18, it was evaluated how appearance features of products with technical functions can benefit from copyright protection.

The dispute subject to the decision is based on the claim that appearance features of "Brompton Bicycles," which have been produced and sold in the same form since 1987 by "Designer SI" and "Brompton Bicycle Limited Company," and which can be adjusted to 3 different positions (folded, unfolded and stand-by) are copied in the production of "Chedech Bicycles," produced by Get2Get, thus, infringing the copyright of the "Brompton Bicycle."