• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]
Contact form
Patent- & Rechtsanwaltskanzlei

Patent- & Rechtsanwaltskanzlei

  • Deutsch

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • xing
  • Email
MENUMENU
  • Services
    • Advice On Protective IP Rights
    • Patent Application /TM Registration
    • Enforcement Of IP Rights
    • Defence Against IP Rights Enforcement
    • Costs
  • Company
    • Fields of Law
      • Patent Law
      • Utility Model Law
      • Employees‘ Inventions
      • Trademark Law
      • Design Law
      • Trademark and Product Piracy
      • Expert Opinions
    • Our Law Firm
      • Dr. Karl-Hermann Meyer-Dulheuer
      • Dr. Tim Meyer-Dulheuer
      • Dr. Klaus Zimmermann
      • Zhichao Ying
      • Eva Maria Amoah
    • Commitment
  • Contact
    • Where To Find Us
    • Write us!
    • Request call back
  • Blog

ECJ: courts in injunctions against community designs

22. November 2019

The proximity and efficiency of the courts must be given priority over the objective of specialisation, the ECJ ruled. The courts of the EU Member States, which are also competent for national design protection, are also competent to issue preliminary injunctions in relation to community designs.

Courts for community designsThe question referred by the Netherlands asked for an interpretation of Article 90(1) CDR (see Regulation No 6/2002), in particular with regard to Article 81, which provides for the exclusive application of specialised courts for protected community designs. It is possible that the exclusivity provided for in Article 81 will be abolished in Article 90, which allows the Member States to involve other national courts in addition to the specialised court (these courts are designated under Article 80(1)). Yesterday the ECJ ruled on this issue.

The question of the referring Dutch court referred specifically to the first part of Article 90(1) of Regulation No 6/2002, i.e. the determination of the competent courts for EU designs in an EU Member State and with regard to the ordering of interim measures and protective measures – including temporary injunctions – in respect of a Community design.

The background

The background to this is Dutch legislation. By adopting Article 3 of the Law of November 2004, the Netherlands legislature sought to make use of the specific intellectual-property expertise of the rechtbank Den Haag (District Court, The Hague) and of the Gerechtshof Den Haag (Court of Appeal, The Hague, Netherlands). However, the question whether the courts designated in Article 80(1) of Regulation No 6/2002 have exclusive jurisdiction over interim measures, including protective measures, has been answered differently in case-law and doctrine, including in Member States other than the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the referring Dutch court described.

According to the Netherlands Government, Article 90 must be regarded as the general rule for protective and provisional measures, which must be supplemented as follows, depending on the nature of the proceedings:

  • in actions “relating to the infringement and validity of Community designs (Article 81), only the specialised courts should be able to take the appropriate protective and provisional measures, since they have exclusive jurisdiction in such proceedings;
  • for acts other than those referred to in Article 81, Article 90(1) should apply, which allows any court of a Member State to take interim or protective measures, including specialised courts.

Advocate General saw no jurisdiction for national courts

The Advocate General did not share that view in his Opinion. The system of specialised Community design courts contributes to the uniformity of case-law and to the uniform application of the substantive rules on actions for infringement and invalidity, the Advocate General stated in his Opinion of September 2019, which is also in line with the objectives of Regulation No 6/2002.

ECJ puts proximity of courts above specialization

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) now ruled on this issue yesterday. In principle, when interpreting a provision of Union law, not only its wording must be taken into account, but also its context and the objectives of that provision, the ECJ emphasized. In the 28th recital of Regulation No. 6/2002, the Union legislator had indeed pointed out that a specialization of the courts competent for Community design matters leads to the desired uniform legal validity for EU designs, the court explained.

But equally, the 29th recital of Regulation No. 6/2002 emphasized that the rights conferred by a Community design must be capable of being effectively enforced throughout the Union, the ECJ added.

The pursuit of this objective of a uniform interpretation is indeed justified for court proceedings which – as far as infringement or invalidity actions are concerned – relate to the decision on the merits. But applications for provisional measures, including protective measures, in infringement or invalidity cases must give priority to the imperatives of proximity and efficiency of the courts over the objective of specialization, the ECJ added. Accordingly, the conferral of jurisdiction to issue preliminary injunctions on a court of a Member State which has jurisdiction to issue measures of the same kind in respect of national design rights is also appropriate, all the more so since the effect of such provisional measures, including protective measures, is by nature limited in time.

The imperatives of proximity and efficiency of the court were to be given priority over the objective of specialization.

Therefore, the ECJ ruled that Article 90(1) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community Designs should be interpreted as meaning that the courts and tribunals of the Member States with jurisdiction to order provisional measures, including protective measures, in respect of a national design also have jurisdiction to order such measures in respect of a Community design.

Would you like to protect or defend a design?

Our attorneys have many years of experience in trademark and patent law and are authorized to represent you before any court in Germany as well as internationally.
If you are interested, please contact us.

 

 

Sources:

Judgement of ECJ about Art. 90 GGV (EU:C:2019:998)

Image:

Free_Photos /pixabay.com / CCO License  

  • share  11 
  • share 
  • share 
  • tweet  
  • share 

Category iconDesign Law Tag iconjudgment,  ECJ,  Community Design,  interim injunction,  jurisdiction,  registered Design,  protected EU designs,  CDR,  national courts,  jurisdiction for courts,  EU courts,  specialised courts,  EV v design,  interim injunction Community design,  regulation 6/2002,  jurisdiction for national courts,  enabling provision,  art. 90. 1 CDR,  interpretation of art. 90 (1) CDR,  registerd Community Design

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

More articles about: Design Law

All articles

Blog Menu

  • Design Law
  • Healthcare & Lifesciences
  • International Intellectual Property
  • Licenses
  • News from our law firm
  • Overall
  • Patent Law
  • Product- and Trademark piracy
  • Trademark Law
This form uses Google Recaptcha.

You must accept cookies from Google recaptcha to use this form.

More information can be found in our privacy policy.

load form

Recent Posts

  • Alkemie vs. Alkmene: word/figurative mark vs. earlier word mark 9. April 2021
  • Hitachi patent partially invalid in GER: code distribution for mobile communication 8. April 2021
  • Google vs. Oracle: Java API code falls under fair use! 6. April 2021
  • EuGH / Case Lundbeck: Restriction by object 29. March 2021

Fields of Law

  • Patent Law
  • Utility Model Law
  • Employees’ Inventions
  • Trademark Law
  • Design Law
  • Trademark and Product Piracy
  • Expert Opinions
  • Costs

Das könnte Sie auch interessieren:

25. March 2021
Lego brick design: Lego wins stage in EU court

Lego brick design: Lego wins stage in EU court

25. February 2021
Design protection in China: Amendment 2021

Design protection in China: Amendment 2021

25. January 2021
Time limit missed for remedying deficiencies at EUIPO

Time limit missed for remedying deficiencies at EUIPO

22. December 2020
3D printing in design/copyright: Violation of IP rights (2)?

3D printing in design/copyright: Violation of IP rights (2)?

18. December 2020
New Year 2021: News on Nice, Locarno and IPC

New Year 2021: News on Nice, Locarno and IPC

18. December 2020
EUIPO ‘SME Fund’: grant promotes SME applications for IP rights

EUIPO ‘SME Fund’: grant promotes SME applications for IP rights

Footer

Contact

Franklinstr. 61-63
D-60486 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 199
[email protected]

Customer Reviews

Meyer-Dulheuer MD Legal Patentanwälte PartG mbB Patentrecht, Markenrecht, Eigentum hat 4,78 von 5 Sternen 23 Bewertungen auf ProvenExpert.com

Fields of Law

  • Patent Law
  • Utility Model Law
  • Employees’ Inventions
  • Trademark Law
  • Design Law
  • Trademark and Product Piracy
  • Expert Opinions
  • Costs

Law Firm

  • Request non-binding call back
  • Info secure emails
  • Company
  • Our Law Firm
  • ISO Certificate
  • Privacy Policy
  • Data handling for clients
  • Imprint

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • xing
  • Email

Newsletter Signup

This form uses Google Recaptcha.

You must accept cookies from Google recaptcha to use this form.

More information can be found in our privacy policy.

load form

© Patent- & Rechtsanwaltskanzlei Meyer-Dulheuer MD Legal Patentanwälte PartG mbB

Kontaktformular

 

Rufen Sie uns an, schicken Sie uns eine Mail oder füllen Sie das Kontaktformular aus.

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]

This form uses Google Recaptcha.

You must accept cookies from Google recaptcha to use this form.

More information can be found in our privacy policy.

load form

Contact Form

 

Give us a call, send us an email or fill out the contact form.

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]

This form uses Google Recaptcha.

You must accept cookies from Google recaptcha to use this form.

More information can be found in our privacy policy.

load form