Court of Justice, Fifth Chamber

16 February 2023, Case C‑472/21

(Monz Handelsgesellschaft International mbH & Co. KG v Büchel GmbH & Co. Fahrzeugtechnik KG)

Reference for a preliminary ruling – Intellectual property – Design – Directive 98/71/EC – Article 3(3) and (4) – Conditions for obtaining protection for a component part of a complex product – Concepts of ‘visibility’ and ‘normal use’ – Visibility of a component part of a complex product during normal use of that product by the end user

Article 3(3) and (4) of Directive 98/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 on the legal protection of designs

must be interpreted as meaning that the requirement of ‘visibility’, laid down in that provision, that is to be met in order for a design applied to or incorporated in a product which constitutes a component part of a complex product to be eligible to benefit from the legal protection of designs, must be assessed in the light of a situation of normal use of that complex product, so that the component part concerned, once it has been incorporated into that product, remains visible during such use. To that end, the visibility of a component part of a complex product during its ‘normal use’ by the end user must be assessed from the perspective of that user as well as from the perspective of an external observer, and that normal use must cover acts performed during the principal use of a complex product as well as acts which must customarily be carried out by the end user in connection with such use, with the exception of maintenance, servicing and repair work.

categoria:European Case Law