In short, German manufacturer Hansgrohe was the proprietor of a Community design for its Raindance hand shower. Together with its French distributor, Hansgrohe sued DGK Productions Europe SARL, Carrefour Hypermarchés France SAS and MTK Import Export for design infringement and unfair competition, seeking to prevent sales of the Lagoone hand shower, which was protected as a French design.
Hansgrohe's claims were dismissed at first instance, the court holding that both parties' design registrations were invalid. Hansgrohe's Community design registration was invalid since it reproduced an earlier registered third party design. The Cour d'appel de Paris reversed this finding: while the functional features of the Raindance shower head, in particular the elastic spikes and wedges, could not be taken into account for the examination of novelty and individual character, the design was characterized by its lines, contours, chrome finishing and shape. On account of these characteristic features, the Raindance design was new and had individual character. Comparing that design with the allegedly infringing Lagoone product, even though the two had different numbers of spikes and differently-shaped wedges (which were not highly visible), the overall impression of the designs appeared similar to an informed user and Hansgrohe's design was infringed.
Unfortunately International Law Office does not provide illustrations. A picture of Raindance appears above (from which it's not clear what is meant by 'spikes' and 'wedges') , but I've been unable to dig up a picture of Lagoone at all. Can any reader oblige?
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