RCD invalidity through the cases: Rodinger writes

The September 2009 issue of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (JIPLAP), published monthly by Oxford University Press, leads for the first time with an article on the validity of Community designs. Entitled "Community design invalidity: the issues, as viewed through the case law", it is authored by Pedro Rodinger (right) who is known to many readers of this weblog as Director of OHIM's Design Department. According to the article's abstract:

"Legal context: In 2003, Council Regulation 6/2002 on Community designs set in motion the Registered Community Design, an IP right that is relatively easy to obtain thanks to the fact that there is no ex-officio novelty examination and to the swift and fast registration procedure. According to the regulation, problems with conflicting design or other rights are solved after registration once they effectively occur. The Community legislator followed the wishes of the European industry and after more than 5 years of experience, the fairly low number of design invalidity claims seems to confirm that this decision was a good one.

Key points: So far, only six design invalidity cases have been presented to the CFI. The basic underlying concepts of the Community Design right are at the core of these cases: the concept of the informed user, the degree of freedom of the designer, the use of proofs, the conflict between designs and trade marks, etc.

Practical significance: The RCD being still a young right, the interpretation of these concepts is of utmost importance for practitioners. The article contributes to the general debate on interpretation".

It's a little-known fact that two members of the Class 99 squad-- David Musker and Jeremy Phillips -- are also members of the JIPLAP editorial team. If you are thinking of writing an article on design law and practice, whether scholarly or practical, please feel free to contact either of them with your ideas.