The High Court has recently attempted to clarify the extremely complicated area of law in Australia dealing with the overlap between the Copyright and Designs Acts ...

The Situation: The Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") recently ruled that design works must be protected by copyright in the EU regardless of their country of origin. This decision ...

That question—“But is it art?”—was before the German Bundesgerichtshof (“BGH”), or Federal Court of Justice, in a recent proceeding involving the well-known Birkenstock sandal design. Birkenstock ...

An Italian court recently issued a long-awaited decision in which it recognized copyright protection for designs (a chair and a lamp). This is a landmark decision. Prior to the coming into force of ...

An Italian Supreme Court decision concerning the layout of Kiko make-up stores is a welcome sign of the harmonising effect of the Court of Justice of the European Union’s Cofemel ruling, but could ...

Legislative Decree 131/2010, which came into force on September 2 2010, has brought Article 239 of the Italian Code of Industrial Property into line with the Community Design Directive. The new ...

The Council has today adopted its positions ('general approaches') on the proposed revision of the designs legislation package: the directive on the legal protection of designs and the regulation on ...

“[T]he CJEU found that where the design of an original work has not been so dictated by technical considerations that an author’s personality is still reflected in the work ‘as an expression of free ...

Aficionados of glossy high-fashion magazines know that for every page of trend-setting design there is an affordable counterpart at the local department store. Expensive couture designs are routinely ...

Many in the fashion industry were pleasantly surprised when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the copyright case Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands. The court granted certiorari to resolve ...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday gave a V for victory to the dominant provider of cheerleader uniforms for schools, colleges, and spirit teams, ruling that some of its uniform designs were ...

Leeron is a New York-based writer who specializes in covering technology for small and mid-sized businesses. Her work has been featured in publications including Bankrate, Quartz, the Village Voice, ...