It doesn't pay to toy around with Autec

This month's Alicante News features the OHIM Invalidity Division's German-only decision ICD 7100 in which toy-manufacturer Autec-- whose European litigation in Case C-48/05 Adam Opel v Autec won toymakers the right to reproduce logos on their scale models of real cars -- has scuppered Volkswagen's registered Community design in the new, revised version of the much-loved Beetle.


It wasn't the original Beetle that caused the problem.  Like Mickey Mouse, the Beetle has had a few facelifts in its long life and the first version is quite different from the later ones.  It was the two designs represented below that sunk VW.  New, smart Beetle concepts from the 1990s, they formed a body of prior art against which the originality of the challenged design was measured.

   

That was Community design RCD 111596-0001, which VW registered in 2003. It possessed the following side view:

The OHIM Invalidity Division had no trouble deciding that the later-registered design lacked individual character under Article 6 of the Community Design Regulation and declared the registration invalid.  

Given the deep purses and deep commitment shown by the automotive industry when contesting every type of registered intellectual property right in pretty well every jurisdiction, one wonders whether an appeal might be on its way ...