62022TJ0377_INF
Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber) of 6 September 2023 –Cayago Tec v EUIPO – iAqua (Shenzhen) (Personal watercraft, Speedboat)
(Case T‑377/22) (
1
)
(Community design – Invalidity proceedings – Registered Community design representing a personal watercraft or a boat – Earlier Community designs – Grounds for invalidity – Conditions for protection – Individual character – Articles 4, 6 and Article 25(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 – Degree of freedom of the designer – Overall impression – National judicial proceedings – Expert report)
1.
Judicial proceedings – Production of evidence – Time limit – Evidence lodged out of time – Conditions – EUIPO’s decision-making practice after the proceedings – Admissibility
(Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 85)
(see paragraph 29)
2.
Community designs – Grounds for invalidity – No individual character – Design not giving the informed user a different overall impression from that produced by the earlier design – Criteria for assessment – Creative licence
(Council Regulation No 6/2002, Arts 6(2) and 25(1)(b))
(see paragraphs 46-48)
3.
Community designs – Grounds for invalidity – No individual character – Design not giving the informed user a different overall impression from that produced by the earlier design – Representation of a personal watercraft or of a boat
(Council Regulation No 6/2002, Arts 6(1) and 25(1)(b))
(see paragraphs 54, 55, 58, 59, 69, 70)
4.
Community designs – Procedural provisions – Measures of inquiry – Expert report – Discretion of the Board of Appeal
(Council Regulation No 6/2002, Art. 65(1)(e))
(see paragraph 66)
Operative part
The Court:
1.
Dismisses the action;
2.
Orders Cayago Tec GmbH to pay the costs.
(
1
)	OJ C 326, 29.8.2022.