Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2025:333
Date: 2025-03-26
Language of the case: Polish
Court formation: Second Chamber
Subject matter: Intellectual, industrial and commercial property;Designs
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded;Action for annulment - inadmissible
Origin: Poland

Judgment of the General Court of 26 March 2025 – Hamster Polska v EUIPO – Budotechnika (Public toilets) (Cases T-608/23, T-609/23 and T-611/23) 1 (Community design – Invalidity proceedings – Registered Community designs representing public toilets – Grounds for invalidity – Features of appearance of a product solely dictated by its technical function – Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 – Disclosure of earlier designs – Degree of freedom of the designer – Individual character – Informed user – Different overall impression – Articles 6 and 7 and Article 25(1)(b) of Regulation No 6/2002 – Obligation to state reasons – Article 62 of Regulation No 6/2002) Language of the case: Polish Parties Applicant: Hamster Polska sp. z o.o. (Rybnik, Poland) (represented by: A. Szczurek, lawyer) Defendant: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by: J. Ivanauskas and M. Chylińska, Agents) Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO, intervener before the General Court: Budotechnika sp. z o.o. (Pilchowice, Poland) (represented by: A. Pilecka and M. Witkowska, lawyers) Re: By its actions under Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks the annulment and alteration of three decisions of the Third Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 4 August 2023 (Cases R 2/2023-3, R 14/2023-3 and R 49/2023-3). Operative part of the judgment The Court: Joins Cases T-608/23, T-609/23 and T-611/23 for the purposes of the judgment; Dismisses the actions; Orders Hamster Polska sp. z o.o. to pay the costs incurred in the proceedings before the General Court. ____________ 1 OJ C C/2023/777, 20.11.2023.