They argued that since the intention of the building blocks is to attach them with other blocks to build larger objects, the technical requirements of the blocks must fulfil the capacity of being assembled whilst providing sufficient stability, which in turn dictates how the blocks should look like. The Board of Appeal agreed with the claimant in that the features of Lego blocks were solely dictated by the technical functions of the building blocks. Though the application for a declaration for invalidity was initially rejected by the EUIPO’s Cancellation Division, the Third Board of Appeal of EUIPO upheld the appeal and declared the design invalid for the purposes of a Community design. Thus, the argument put forth was that the design elements of the Lego blocks were only necessary to serve a functional purpose, specifically to attach the blocks to each other. Their argument was based on Article 25(1)(b) of Council Regulation No 6/2002 and specifically Article 8(1), whereby A Community design shall not subsist in features of appearance of a product which are solely dictated by its technical function. However, in 2016, Delta-Sport Handelskontor GmbH, a company active in the manufacturing and distribution of sporting goods and textiles, filed an application for a declaration of invalidity of the Lego block design. The design was registered as a Community design and published in the relevant publication. In 2010, Lego filed for an application for the registration of a Community design with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). The proposed solution was to establish a uniform procedure, which is directly applicable in all Member States. Not only did companies incur increased costs having to follow these procedures, but it also put the pressure on the administrative sectors of Member States, who had to process all submitted applications. Introduced with Council Regulation No 6/2002, the aim of unifying patent designs across the Union was to limit the effect that patents have on competition, as trade and competition was considerably distorted by companies having to apply for patent rights separately in Member States, in addition to the varying legislation and other matters, such as exclusive rights. Community designs have been in use in the EU for almost two decades.
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