Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber) of 6 September 2023 –  
Iwuć v EUIPO – Hangzhou XiangHui (Packaging box and set of socks)

(Case T‑492/22) (
[1](#t-ECR_62022TJ0492_INF_EN_01-E0001)
)

(Community design – Invalidity proceedings – Registered Community design representing a packaging box and a set of socks – Grounds for invalidity – Articles 5, 7 and 25(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002)

| 1. | Community designs – Grounds for invalidity – Lack of novelty – Previous disclosure of identical design – Proof of the disclosure  (Council Regulation No 6/2002, Arts 5(1)(b), 7(1) and 25(1)(b))  (see paragraphs 16, 17) |

| 2. | Community designs – Grounds for invalidity – Lack of novelty – Previous disclosure of identical design – Representation of a packaging box and a set of socks  (Council Regulation No 6/2002, Arts 5(1)(b), 7(1) and 25(1)(b))  (see paragraphs 25-27, 29, 33, 34, 36) |

| 3. | Community designs – Conditions for protection – Overlap of the conditions of novelty and individual character  (Council Regulation No 6/2002, Arts 5 and 6)  (see paragraph 32) |

| 4. | Action for annulment – Pleas in law – Pleas and complaints not capable of giving rise to annulment of the contested act – Ineffective pleas in law  (Art. 263 TFEU)  (see paragraph 40) |

| 5. | Action for annulment – Subject matter – Decision based on several pillars of reasoning, each sufficient to justify the operative part – Annulment of such a decision – Conditions  (Art. 263 TFEU)  (see paragraphs 41, 42) |

| 6. | Community designs – Grounds for invalidity – Use of a distinctive sign in a subsequent design – Invalidity of the subsequent design –Maintenance in an amended form  (Council Regulation No 6/2002, Art. 25(6))  (see paragraph 49) |

Operative part

The Court:

| 1. | Dismisses the action; |

| 2. | Orders each party to bear its own costs. |

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(
[1](#c-ECR_62022TJ0492_INF_EN_01-E0001)
) [OJ C 368, 26.9.2022](./../../../legal-content/EN/AUTO/?uri=OJ:C:2022:368:TOC).

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