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Should the proceedings for infringement of industrial design rights be suspended due to a pending litigation about the validity of the industrial design?

The Commercial Chamber of the Supreme court of cessation will decide on an issue concerning the protection of intellectual property

The General Assembly of the Commercial Chamber (GACC) of the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) has initiated a new interpretative case in the field of industrial design. You can find out what industrial design is here [1].

The question before the GACC is – should the proceedings in the action for infringement of industrial design rights be suspended because of a pending challenge before the administrative court against the decision to cancel the registration of the same industrial design?

It is important to note that the answer to this question will also affect the trademark. You can read about it here [2].

This interpretative case has come about because of a controversial resolution of that question.

Some of the chambers of the commercial board of the SCC consider that the pending challenge to the decision to cancel the registration is not a ground to suspend the actions for protection against infringement of design rights.

Other decisions, however, take the opposite view. Those courts held that, since the cancellation of the registration of a design has effect from the date of filing of the application (Art. 30 para. 1 of the Industrial Design Act (IDA), if in the course of proceedings brought under art. 57 IDA, the design allegedly infringed is cancelled by a decision of the Patent Office and there are proceedings pending before the administrative court challenging that decision, the latter shall be preliminary to the infringement proceedings and shall justify the suspension of the proceedings under Art. 229, para. 1, p. 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CCP)”.

The news above is for information purposes only. It is not a (binding) legal advice. For a thorough understanding of the subjects covered and prior acting on any issue discussed we kindly recommend Readers consult Ilieva, Voutcheva & Co. Law Firm attorneys at law