Stuck on 99

The number 99 seems almost indissolubly linked with design protection,and not only on account of this weblog's name. "Judgments of the Community Design Courts", the Community Design Court webpage on the website of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM), now has a total of 99 accessible cases from national courts.

Right: nothing to do with this article, but too good to miss: the logo of the 99 designs community.

This case list, which contains decisions from as long ago as 2004, seems to have stalled somewhat, since only two fresh decisions have been added over the past three months. Some enrichment from Europe's less-well represented jurisdictions is needed, since the current total of 99 is drawn from just 12 of the European Union's 27 Member States. Countries which are not represented in the national design case database include Belgium, Denmark, Greece and Portugal. The countries from which the largest number of decisions have been submitted are as follows: Spain (26), the Netherlands (23), France and Germany (10 apiece).

Class 99's readers come from 51 different countries, 23 of which are Member States of the European Union (only Cyprus, Estonia, Luxembourg and Malta are missing). We call on our colleagues, wherever they are, to keep the flow of design law news going and, if possible, to populate further the OHIM Community Design Court website.