Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 21 September 2017 — Easy Sanitary Solutions BV v European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), Group Nivelles NV
(Joined Cases C-361/15 P and C-405/15 P) 1
(Appeal — Intellectual property — Community designs — Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 — Article 5 — Novelty — Article 6 — Individual character — Article 7 — Disclosure to the public — Article 63 — Powers of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in the taking of evidence — Burden of proof on the applicant for a declaration of invalidity — Requirements relating to the reproduction of an earlier design — Design for a shower drainage channel — Dismissal of an application for a declaration of invalidity by the Board of Appeal)
Language of the case: Dutch
Parties
Appellants: Easy Sanitary Solutions BV (represented by: F. Eijsvogels, advocaat) (C-361/15 P), European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) (represented by S. Bonne and A. Folliard-Monguiral, acting as Agents) (C-405/15 P)
Other party to the proceedings: Group Nivelles NV (represented by: H. Jonkhout, advocaat)
Intervener in support of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) (C-405/15 P): United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (represented by J. Kraehling and C.R. Brodie, acting as Agents, and by N. Saunders, Barrister)
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
1. Dismisses the appeals in the Cases C-361/15 P and C-405/15 P;
2. Orders Easy Sanitary Solutions BV to bear its own costs and to pay the costs incurred by Group Nivelles NV and by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in Case C-361/15 P;
3. Orders EUIPO to bear its own costs and also to pay the costs incurred by Group Nivelles NV in Case C-405/15 P;
4. Orders EUIPO to pay a third of the costs incurred by Easy Sanitary Solutions BV in Case C-405/15 P, the remaining two thirds of those costs being borne by Easy Sanitary Solutions BV;
5. Orders the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to bear its own costs in Case C-405/15 P.
____________
1 OJ C 337, 12.10.2015.