IP case law Court of Justice

Art. 14 CDR : Right to the Community design

1. The right to the Community design shall vest in the designer or his successor in title.
2. If two or more persons have jointly developed a design, the right to the Community design shall vest in them jointly.
3. However, where a design is developed by an employee in the execution of his duties or following the instructions given by his employer, the right to the Community design shall vest in the employer, unless otherwise agreed or specified under national law.

2 preliminary rulings

Order of 6 Oct 2015, C-500/14 (Ford Motor Company)

Article 14 of Directive 98/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 on the legal protection of designs and Article 110 of Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 on Community designs must be interpreted as not allowing, by way of derogation from the provisions of Directive 2008/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2008 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks and Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 of 26 February 2009 on the Community trade mark, a manufacturer of replacement parts and accessories for motor vehicles, such as wheel covers, to affix to its products a sign identical to a trade mark registered for such products inter alia by a producer of motor vehicles, without obtaining the latter’s consent, on the ground that the use thus made of that trade mark is the only way of repairing the vehicle concerned, restoring to that complex product its original appearance.

Judgment of 2 Jul 2009, C-32/08 (FEIA)

Article 14(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 on Community designs does not apply to Community designs that have been produced as a result of a commission.

In circumstances such as those of the main proceedings, Article 14(1) of Regulation No 6/2002 must be interpreted as meaning that the right to the Community design vests in the designer, unless it has been assigned by way of contract to his successor in title.


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