Whether elements of Ferrari can be protected as a European design?

The Advocate General of the European Union H. SAUGMANDSGAARD ØE has given an opinion on Case C‑123/20 Ferrari SpA v Mansory Design & Holding GmbH.

In brief, this case target the question whether elements of an entire design can be protected as unregistered European design. The case has the following background:

Ferrari is a racing car and sports car manufacturer established in Italy. Its top-of-the-range FXX K model, which has not been approved for use on the road, is intended solely to be driven on the track.

Ferrari first presented the FXX K to the public in a press release dated 2 December 2014. That press release included the following two photographs, showing, respectively, a side view and a front view of the vehicle:

The Ferrari FXX K, produced in limited numbers, exists in two versions, which are distinguished solely by the colour of the ‘V’ on the bonnet. In the first version, illustrated by the photographs reproduced above, that ‘V’ is black apart from its low point, which is the same colour as the basic colour of the vehicle. In the second version, the ‘V’ is entirely black in colour.

Mansory Design, of which WH is the chief executive officer, is an undertaking that specialises in the personalisation (known as ‘tuning’) of high-end cars. Mansory Design and WH are both established in Germany. Since 2016 Mansory Design has produced and marketed sets of personalisation accessories (known as ‘tuning kits’) designed to alter the appearance of the Ferrari 488 GTB (a road-going model, produced in a series, available since 2015) in such a way as to make it resemble the appearance of the Ferrari FXX K.

Mansory Design thus offers a number of ‘tuning kits’ which serve to transform the appearance of the Ferrari 488 GTB: the ‘front kit’, ‘rear kit’, ‘side set’, ‘roof cover’ and ‘rear wing’. In addition, it offers two versions of the ‘front kit’, reflecting the two versions of the Ferrari FXX K: on the first version, the ‘V’ on the bonnet is black apart from its low point, while on the second version it is entirely black.

A complete conversion of the Ferrari 488 GTB involves replacing a large portion of the visible body panels. In March 2016, at the International Motor Show in Geneva (Switzerland), Mansory Design displayed a vehicle featuring that conversion under the name Mansory Siracusa 4XX.

Ferrari maintains that the marketing of those ‘tuning kits’ by Mansory Design constitutes an infringement of the rights conferred by one or more unregistered Community designs of which it is the holder.

Principally, Ferrari asserted that the marketing of the ‘front kits’ constitutes an infringement of the first unregistered Community design, covering the appearance of the part of its model FXX K consisting of the V-shaped element on the bonnet, the fin-like element protruding from the centre of that element and fitted lengthways (the ‘strake’), the front lip spoiler integrated into the bumper and the vertical bridge in the centre connecting the spoiler to the bonnet. That section is seen as a unit that defines the specific ‘facial features’ of that vehicle and also creates an association with an aircraft or Formula 1 car. According to Ferrari, that unregistered Community design arose at the time of the publication of the press release of 2 December 2014.

In the alternative, Ferrari claimed to be the holder of a second unregistered Community design for the appearance of the front lip spoiler, which arose at the time of the publication of the press release or, at the latest, on the release of a film entitled ‘Ferrari FXX K – The Making Of’ on 3 April 2015, and which Mansory Design also infringed by selling its ‘front kits’.

In the further alternative, Ferrari based its action on a third unregistered Community design for the presentation of the Ferrari FXX K as a whole, as revealed in another photograph of the vehicle, shown in an oblique view, which also appeared in the press release of 2 December 2014.

Ferrari also claimed, as regards the ‘kits’ offered for sale on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, rights based on protection against imitation under the law on unfair trading practices.

At first instance, Ferrari sought an injunction throughout the European Union against the making, offering, putting on the market, importing, exporting, using or stocking of the accessories at issue, and made a number of associated requests (provision of accounting documents, recall and destruction of the products and the award of financial compensation). The Regional Court, Germany dismissed those claims in their entirety.

Before the appellate court, Ferrari stated that its requests for an injunction and its requests relating to the recall and destruction of the products, in so far as they were based on the rights conferred by the Community designs on which it relied, had become devoid of purpose, as the rights in question were to expire on 3 December 2017. (3) On the other hand, Ferrari maintained, in particular, its claims for compensation.

That court dismissed Ferrari’s appeal. In particular, it held that Ferrari’s claims based on the alleged unregistered Community designs were unfounded. According to that court, the first unregistered Community design claimed, relating to the part of the Ferrari FXX K described in point 23 of this Opinion, was non-existent, since Ferrari had not shown that the minimum requirement of a ‘certain autonomy’ and a ‘certain consistency of form’ was satisfied. Ferrari merely referred to an arbitrarily defined section of the vehicle. The second unregistered Community design claimed by Ferrari, covering the front lip spoiler, was also non-existent, on the ground that it too failed to satisfy the ‘consistency of form’ requirement. As to the third design, covering the overall appearance of the Ferrari FXX K, it did exist, but it had not been infringed by Mansory Design.

Ferrari then lodged an appeal on a point of law, which was declared admissible by the Federal Court of Justice. That court considers that the outcome of that appeal, as concerns the claims based on infringement of the rights allegedly conferred by the unregistered Community designs claimed by Ferrari, depends on the interpretation of Regulation No 6/2002.

More specifically, it is necessary to clarify the conditions in which the appearance of part of a product may, in accordance with that regulation, enjoy protection as an unregistered Community design.

In that context, the referring court asks, first, whether the making available to the public, within the meaning of Article 11(2) of Regulation No 6/2002, of the image of a product in its entirety also amounts to the making available of the designs of the parts of that product.

Assuming that that is the case, the referring court asks, second, whether the appearance of a part of the product must, in order to be capable of constituting a separate design, separate from the overall appearance of the product, present, as the appellate court held, a ‘certain autonomy’ and a ‘certain consistency in form’, so that it possible to establish that the appearance of that part is not completely lost in the appearance of that product and presents, on the contrary, an overall autonomous impression by comparison with the form as a whole.

In those circumstances, the Federal Court of Justice decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following questions to the Court for a preliminary ruling:

‘(1) Can unregistered Community designs in individual parts of a product arise as a result of disclosure of an overall image of a product in accordance with Article 11(1) and the first sentence of Article 11(2) of Regulation No 6/2002?

(2) If Question 1 is answered in the affirmative:

What legal criterion is to be applied for the purpose of assessing individual character in accordance with Article 4(2)(b) and Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 when determining the overall impression of a component part which – as in the case of a part of a vehicle’s bodywork, for example – is to be incorporated into a complex product? In particular, can the criterion be whether the appearance of the component part, as viewed by an informed user, is not completely lost in the appearance of the complex product, but rather displays a certain autonomy and consistency of form such that it is possible to identify an aesthetic overall impression which is independent of the overall form?’

The Advocate’s opinion:

1) Article 11(2) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 on Community designs must be interpreted as meaning that the making available to the public of the full design of a product, such as the appearance of a vehicle, also entails the making available to the public of the design of a part of that product, such as the appearance of certain elements of the bodywork of that vehicle, provided that the latter design is clearly identifiable at the time when that design is made available.

2) Article 3(a) of Regulation No 6/2002 must be interpreted as meaning that a visible section of a product, defined by particular lines, contours, colours, shape or texture, constitutes the ‘appearance of […] a part of a product’, within the meaning of that provision, which may be protected as a Community design. There is no need, when assessing whether a given design complies with this definition, to apply additional criteria such as ‘autonomy’ or ‘consistency of form’.

Source: https://intellectualpropertyplanet.wordpress.com/2021/08/04/whether-elements-of-ferrari-can-be-protected-as-a-european-design/