It is reassuring to see that the Court of Appeal has upheld the earlier court decision finding that Aldi's light-up gin bottle design infringed the registered designs owned by Marks & Spencer.
Whilst Aldi had sought to challenge the earlier decision on the basis of a number of interesting legal points, the Court of Appeal dismissed each of Aldi's appeal grounds and maintained the decision that Aldi's gin bottle design produced the same overall impression as that of the registered designs owned by Marks & Spencer.
The Court of Appeal decision clearly illustrates the value of securing registered design protection for new product designs. In particular, design registrations can be used alongside other IP rights, such as registered trade marks and copyright, to provide a thicket of protection for new products thereby maintaining the competitive advantage secured from investing in innovative product design. This is of real value when tackling lookalike products, by presenting potential infringers with multiple obstacles to surmount when attempting to design around those IP rights.
Registered designs are a very useful form of protection against lookalike products
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