THE PUBLICATION OF A PAIR OF PUMA’S SHOES ON INSTAGRAM BY THE ARTIST RIHANNA RESULTS IN THE INVALIDITY OF A REGISTERED COMMUNITY DESIGN
The General Court has confirmed the decision of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 11 August 2022, Handelsmaatschappij J. Van Hilst (‘HJVH’) by virtue of which it declared the invalidity of a Puma’s Community design for sports shoes due to a prior disclosure.
In this regard, the shoes, which had been registered in August 2016, were disclosed by Robyn Rihanna Fenty (‘Rihanna’) on Instagram by showing a prior design with the same features as the registered design 12 months before the application for registration was filed.
Therefore, it was considered that the prior design had been made public, which justified the invalidity of the registered design.
This decision showcases how important is to coordinate marketing and sales strategies with IP strategies, which should always be hand-in-hand.
