Questions to be referred
62. Counsel provided suggestions as to the questions to be put to the CJEU. Having considered those suggestions, I propose to ask the following questions, subject to any further comment from the parties: (1)For the protection of an unregistered Community design to come into being under art.11 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 (‘the Regulation’), by the design being made available to the public within the meaning of art.11(1), must an event of disclosure, within the meaning of art.11(2), take place within the geographical confines of the Community, or is it sufficient that the event, wherever it took place, was such that, in the normal course of business, the event could reasonably have become known to the circles specialised in the sector concerned, operating within the Community (assuming the design was not disclosed in confidence within the terms of the final sentence of art.11(2))? (2)Is the date for assessing the novelty of a design for which unregistered Community design protection is claimed, within the meaning of art.5(1)(a) of the Regulation, the date on which the unregistered Community design protection for the design came into being according to art.11 of the Regulation, or alternatively the date on which the relevant event of disclosure of the design, within the meaning of art.7(1) of the Regulation, could reasonably have become known in the normal course of business to the circles specialised in the sector concerned, operating within the Community (assuming that the design was not disclosed in confidence within the terms of the final sentence of art.7(1)), or alternatively some other, and if so, which date?
- Introduction
- The Regulation
- Article 1 Community design
- Article 4 Requirements for protection
- Article 5 Novelty
- Article 7 Disclosure
- Article 11 Commencement and term of protection of the unregistered Community design
- Article 110(a)
- The effect of the Regulation on its face
- Judgments of courts in Germany
- Judgments of the CJEU in Gautzsch and the General Court in Senz
- The remaining issues of law
- Textbook commentary
- The arguments in the present case
- Discussion
- Should there be a reference to the CJEU?
- Questions to be referred
