CLASS 99
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WEDNESDAY, 7 NOVEMBER 2012
Design infringement: a hanging offence
In Mainetti (UK) Ltd v Hangerlogic UK Ltd [2012] EWPCC 42, decided by Mr Recorder Iain Purvis QC on 24 October 2012, the Patents County Court for England and Wales ruled that three of Mainetti's UK registered designs for garment hangers were valid and indeed infringed by Hangerlogic's garment hangers. As the three designs were applied for before 9 December 2001, the transitional provisions set out in the Registered Designs Regulations 2001 (SI 2001/3949) -- which implemented the Design Directive -- applied. The effect of this was that, while validity was governed by the Registered Designs Act 1949, infringement was determined by the Design Directive.
According to the Recorder, all the designs were valid since they contained features that were materially different from the cited prior art and they did not constitute variants common in the trade. As for infringement, the test was whether Hangerlogic's allegedly infringing products conveyed the same overall impression when viewed through the eyes of a notional informed observer, the scope of protection varying according to the degree of design freedom enjoyed by the designer and the existing design corpus (a curious euphemism for the relevant prior art). Superimposing Hangerlogic's hangers over Mainetti's designs (see illustration above), the Recorder had no problem finding infringement.
The best part of the judgment comes at [24] when the Recorder, discussing the degree of design freedom enjoyed by hanger designers, says
Tags: infringement, overlay test,
Perm-A-Link: https://www.marques.org/blogs/class99?XID=BHA392
Design infringement: a hanging offence
In Mainetti (UK) Ltd v Hangerlogic UK Ltd [2012] EWPCC 42, decided by Mr Recorder Iain Purvis QC on 24 October 2012, the Patents County Court for England and Wales ruled that three of Mainetti's UK registered designs for garment hangers were valid and indeed infringed by Hangerlogic's garment hangers. As the three designs were applied for before 9 December 2001, the transitional provisions set out in the Registered Designs Regulations 2001 (SI 2001/3949) -- which implemented the Design Directive -- applied. The effect of this was that, while validity was governed by the Registered Designs Act 1949, infringement was determined by the Design Directive.
 |
| Design and allegedly infringing product superimposed |
The best part of the judgment comes at [24] when the Recorder, discussing the degree of design freedom enjoyed by hanger designers, says
"Within the basic parameters imposed by the function which a hanger has to carry out (the need for a hook to fit a hanging rail positioned in the middle of the hanger, arms which are roughly the size and shape of the shoulders of a garment etc.), there is plenty of scope for the exercise of design freedom. I was provided with a book entitled 'Cintres, Hangers' by one Daniel Rozensztroch which contains photographs of hundreds of different hangers collected by the author over a period of years [which leads this blogger to wonder whether there is a special Latin or Greek term for a collector or lover of clothes hangers ...]. It demonstrates the wide scope for the creativity of the designer which exists in the world of hangers, even extending to the world of 'disposable' plastic hangers ... ".Posted by: Blog Administrator @ 18.56
Tags: infringement, overlay test,
Perm-A-Link: https://www.marques.org/blogs/class99?XID=BHA392
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