Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

[JURE summary](#SM)

## JURE summary

A distributor of video game consoles (hereinafter ‘the plaintiff’) sued an internet distributor established in Germany (hereinafter ‘defendant 1’) and a manufacturer established in France (hereinafter ‘defendant 2’) for distributing allegedly copyright-infringing goods.

The plaintiff is the owner of registered designs, namely a remote controller and control element designated as ‘Nunchuck’.

Defendant 2 manufactures remote controls and other accessories for the plaintiff’s video game consoles and distributes them to customers in Belgium, France and Luxembourg. Defendant 1 is a subsidiary of defendant 2 and sells the goods produced by defendant 2 via the internet to customers in Germany and Austria.

The plaintiff opposed the decision of the Landgericht (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’) by filing an appeal with the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf (hereinafter ‘the Court of Appeal’), which stayed the appeal proceedings for the reasons set out below and referred the following questions for interpretation to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

1. Grounds

Defendant 2 criticised the lack of international jurisdiction for EU-wide orders against them.

1. Question

In the context of proceedings for the enforcement of claims arising from a Community design, can the court of a Member State whose jurisdiction in respect of a defendant arises solely from Article 79(1) of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 (1), on the basis that said defendant, domiciled in another Member State, has supplied a defendant domiciled in the first Member State with goods that may infringe intellectual property rights, make orders against the first defendant that are valid throughout the European Union and that go beyond the scope of the supply relationships giving rise to jurisdiction?

2. Grounds

The defendants have also published images on their websites of products corresponding to the plaintiff’s Community designs, according to the terms of the action.

2. Question

Is Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, in particular Article 20(1)(c) thereof, to be interpreted as meaning that a third party may reproduce the Community design for commercial purposes if they wish to sell accessories for goods of the proprietor corresponding to the Community design? If so, what are the applicable criteria?

3. Grounds

The Court of First Instance considered the law of the place of the infringement to be the relevant law and partially applied German, French and Austrian law.

3. Question

How is the place ‘where the infringement was committed’ to be determined pursuant to Article 8(2) of the Rome II Regulation (2) in cases where the infringer infringes Community designs:

a) via a website, which is also aimed at Member States other than the Member State in which the infringer is resident, and

b) in a Member State other than that in which the infringer is resident?

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(1) [Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 on Community designs.](http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2002/6/oj)

(2) [Regulation (EC) No 864/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations.](http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2007/864/oj)

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