Luxury fashion house Yves Saint Laurent has overcome two Community design challenges brought by retailer H&M in the European Union, which claimed that YSL’s handbags were similar to H&M’s designs.
Both designs were for rectangular handbags with no visible seams on the body. One bag was dark brown, while the other was a lighter brown.
Yves Saint Laurent applied for two Community designs in 2006. H&M opposed the applications in 2009, claiming that the bags had “no individual character.” The company invoked one of its earlier designs to support its challenges.
The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market rejected H&M’s challenges in 2011. The Third Board of Appeals upheld the decisions in 2013. The European General Court affirmed the decisions on September 10.
According to European Union law on Community designs, examiners must decide whether a design has “individual character” by considering the nature of the product and the designer’s degree of freedom. The European General Court agreed with OHIM that the designer had a high degree of freedom.
The court cited significant differences between Yves Saint Laurent’s designs and evidence presented by H&M. H&M’s bag had a curved base and seams visible on three sections. The court said the handles on the bags indicate that they were meant to be carried in different ways. Yves Saint Laurent’s bag is meant to be carried by hand, while H&M’s is meant to be carried over the shoulder. The court ruled that the differences were significant and the similarities were insignificant when considering the overall impressions the bags produce.
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