The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has recently issued a new decision (C-684/21; 02/03/2023) on the question of how to determine whether a feature of appearance of a registered design is solely dictated by its technical function.
This is an important topic affecting the validity of registered designs in Europe. Indeed, according to Article 8(1) of the CDR (Community Design Regulation No 6/2022), a registered design shall not subsist in features of appearance of a product (usually a shape) which are solely dictated by its technical function.
It is not always easy to assess the purely technical character of a shape. In many cases, when the designer of a product chooses a shape, he takes the visual impression into account, as well as its technical function.
