Intellectual Property Magazine
Design developments
D Young &Co’s Anna Reid and Gabriel Wittmann drive through some of thisyear’s principal EU, German and UK design cases
Anna Reid andGabriel Wittmann - D Young & Co
A notabledecision is that of the EU General Court (GC) in the LEGO case.
1 TheGC disagreed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office’s (EUIPO)Board of Appeal that had declared a LEGO brick
design invalid on the basis thatall its design features were dictated solely by their technical function(assembly with, and
disassembly from, other bricks). EU design law exemptsfunctional features (connection and disconnection of that product) and
“mustfit” parts (features of interconnecting parts) from design protection.