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The IPKat's favourite  Le Pliage When you have a handbag design bestseller with over 54 million copies sold around the world since its creation in 1993, the question concerning the IP rights vesting in it is not just an academic one. All this was at the centre of a recent decision of the Milan Court of First Instance ( decision 10280/2021 ). The case concerned Longchamp’s  Le Pliage  “cult” bag . The Milan court accepted to enforce Longchamp’s 3D EU trade marks (EUTMs) protecting the shape of  Le Pliage , but  refused  to acknowledge that copyright protection could also vest in such a design. Background In 2019, Longchamp initiated proceedings for trade mark and copyright infringement, as well as unfair competition, against a company making and selling a bag design closely resembling that of  Le Pliage , specifically  Le Pliage 1623 Nylon . The characterizing elements of  Le Pliage , according to Longchamp, would be the original combination o...

G-Star Elwood, a style of jeans that G-Star claims Cofemel to have copied in the background  Portuguese  proceedings As  announced  on The IPKat, last week the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its Cofemel , C-683/17   [not yet available in English] . It ruled that, as far as designs are concerned, no other requirement is mandated for copyright protection to arise under the  InfoSoc Directive , but the sufficient originality of the design at issue. much awaited judgment in  Earlier case law  The ruling is not surprising, considering earlier CJEU case law, most notably the decision in  Flos , C-168/09 . This was a reference from Italy asking about the compatibility with EU law of certain Italian provisions that the Court of First Instance of Milan had deemed potentially incompatible with the principle of cumulation envisaged under EU law. The Italian approach to copyright protection of designs has been traditi...