A recent note on International Law Office by Mads Marstrand-Jørgensen (Njord Law Firm) explains the ruling in a Danish design case, Sangenic International Limited v Lamico ApS (A-11-15, September 10 2015).

In this action the Maritime and Commercial Court -- which hears a considerable number of civil suits for intellectual property infringement annually -- had to consider whether the reproduction of a registered design infringed the design right. Sangenic was the registered proprietor of a registered Community design for a waste bin for nappies, for which Lamico manufactured refill bags which could be accommodated both by Sangenic's waste bin and the bins of others. To illustrate that Lamico's refill bags would fit Sangenic's bins, Lamico included a small drawing of Sangenic's bin on its labels.

Left: for those who don't like illustrations of waste bins for nappies ...

Sangenic objected to this, maintaining that any reproduction of its registered design would infringe its rights under the Regulation 6/2002 on Community Designs and sought interim relief. Lamico denied that it had infringed the right, maintaining that the reproduction was not only lawful but was done in good faith and in the interest of promoting competition within the market. What's more, said Lamico, Article 19 of the Regulation ("Rights conferred by the Community design") made no mention of depictions. Even if this was not so,its reproduction was covered by the limitation in Article 20(1)c), since it was a "reproduction for the purpose of making citations or of teaching", also being "compatible with fair trade practice and do not unduly prejudice the normal exploitation of the design", where "mention is made of the source".

The court found that any reproduction constitutes an infringement of the design right and issued an interim injunction. The decision is however under appeal.