Rospatent has held invalid design patent No. 81235 “VACUUM CLEANER” of company Dyson Technology Ltd
Based on the consideration results of the objection against a grant of design patent of the Russian Federation No. 81235 “VACUUM CLEANER” the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) has held it invalid in full.
The applicant's interests, Business-Alliance LLC (VITEK brand), were represented by the lawyers of company Zuykov & Partners LLC.
The legal proceedings of the British company Dyson Technology Limited (Dyson Technology Ltd), a major manufacturer of vacuum cleaners, and Business-Alliance LLC have been continuing for several years.
It will be recalled that in October 2015 company Dyson Technology Limited (Dyson Technology Ltd) appealed to the Moscow Arbitration Court with a lawsuit against Business-Alliance LLC with a claim to stop the violation of an exclusive right under patent of the Russian Federation No. 81235. According to the company, Business-Alliance LLC violates the rights to the industrial design by introducing into the civil circulation on the territory of the Russian Federation of Vitek vacuum cleaners, the appearance of which produces a similar impression on the consumers when compared with the Dyson vacuum cleaner model according to the indicated patent.
The lawyers of company Zuykov & Partners LLC, representing the interests of Business-Alliance LLC in court, expressed their disagreement with the claims and won the case in the first instance. However, the appeal and cassation revoked this decision. The court prohibited the defendants to use patent of the RF No. 81235.
In December 2016 Dyson filed a lawsuit seeking a compensation for the violation of an exclusive right to industrial design “VACUUM CLEANER” in the amount of 2,500,000 roubles from each of three defendants. During the consideration of the present case, the lawyers of company Zuykov & Partners LLC filed an objection to Rospatent against a grant of patent No. 81235 due to the following circumstances.
In the opinion of the applicant of the objection, Business-Alliance LLC,industrial design “VACUUM CLEANER” does not correspond to such conditions of patentability as “novelty” and “originality” due to the fact that the appearance of the vacuum cleaner and its essential features have become known long before the priority date of the industrial design, which is confirmed by the patent sources, as well as by the information derived from the publicly available sources of the information (a public use).
The bar of the industrial design to the condition of patentability “originality” is confirmed by the fact that the essential features of the industrial design are not conditioned by the creative character.
By its decision of 10.11.2017 Rospatent satisfied the objection of Business-Alliance LLC and held invalid design patent No. 81235 in full. In this connection, the case of the protection of an exclusive right to the industrial design, which was completed at the end of 2016, will be continued, as it must be reconsidered based on new circumstances.