Unregistered design. An interesting ruling by the Court of Milan.

In late February, the specialized division of the Milan Court issued an interesting ruling on the protection of unregistered designs in the textile sector.
The case was brought by a well-known, historic Italian cotton mill specializing in the production of high-end shirt fabrics against an Italian competitor accused of copying as many as 54 original fabric prototypes created by the plaintiff.
The Court of Milan found that unregistered fabrics must indeed be granted protection under EC Regulation No. 6/2002, particularly since the defendant in this case never provided sufficient evidence of the lack of novelty and individual character of the design in question.
It is worth noting that an unregistered design is granted protection if it is new and possesses individual character. To be new, the design must differ from previous designs in “insignificant” details.
A design is considered to possess individual character if the overall impression it creates on the informed user differs significantly from the overall impression created on that user by any design that has been made available to the public.
Finally, it should be noted that the Court also found that the defendant’s conduct violated the rules of competition under Article 2598 of the Italian Civil Code, in that the infringement of the designs, by depriving the plaintiff of substantial research and development investments, had in fact allowed the defendant to enter the market at a reduced cost.