No Design Protection for Rihanna’s Puma sneakers

On March 6, 2024, the General Court of the European Union ruled that a design for a shoe registered by Puma in 2016 was rightly declared invalid by the EUIPO. The design had already been disclosed in 2014 and therefore lacked novelty: On the occasion of her appointment as Puma’s new creative director, Rihanna wore on several photos published on her Instagram account the very sneakers from the planned joint collection that Puma wanted to protect 2 years later by the (now invalid) Community Design.

Rihanna’s Post

On December 16, 2014, the US pop star Rihanna published several photos on her Instagram account to mark the signing of a contract that made her the new creative director of Puma. Also on display on these photos: The white sneakers that Rihanna wore at the signing, with conspicuously thick soles and characteristic ribbing. Perhaps a small teaser for the new collection that Puma would be selling in collaboration with Rihanna. Or a mistake after all? In any case, Puma only registered a Community Design that is strikingly similar to these shoes on July 26, 2016.

A registered Community Design is only protected if it is new and has individual character before the date of the filing of the application. This means in particular that the relevant specialist circles must not have been aware of an identical design at that time. However, the law grants a grace period of one year. If the designer of the design himself or a person associated with the designer discloses the design, this disclosure is not taken into account for applications within the next 12 months in accordance with Art. 7 para. 2 CDR.

However, in the present case this deadline would also have passed for the application of July 26, 2016 if the Instagram photos of December 16, 2014 were indeed a prior disclosure of the design.

A third company, which was involved in a legal dispute with Puma in the Netherlands, promptly filed a request for a declaration of invalidity of the Community Design with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on July 22, 2019, arguing that the contested Community Design lacked novelty and individual character due to the prior disclosure.

After the EUIPO granted the request and Puma appealed against this decision, the General Court (EGC) now had to deal with the facts of the case.

The Decision of the EGC

Puma objected to the request and the EUIPO’s decision on the grounds that the screenshots of the Instagram photos attached to the application were not sufficient to establish a disclosure of the design that would be prejudicial to novelty. In the photos, Puma argued, Rihanna was in the foreground; the sneakers, on the other hand, were hardly noticed. The photos were too dark and blurred for anyone to be able to clearly recognize the sneakers at all. In addition, at the time of the disclosure, Instagram had not yet offered a feature to zoom into photos in the app, which made it even more difficult to see the shoes. However, according to Puma, it could be assumed that Instagram was used almost exclusively on smartphones, where the photos could only be viewed in a small size. Ultimately, it could not be assumed that all design features of the design were already disclosed by the photos.

None of these arguments convinced the court. In the opinion of the judges, the photos were of sufficient quality to recognize all decisive design features of the design. In some of the photos, the shoes and not Rihanna were clearly in the foreground. Even without the zoom feature, it was also possible to take screenshots of the Instagram photos at the time of the post in order to enlarge them outside of the app. Ultimately, due to Rihanna’s high profile, it must be assumed that both her fans and the relevant professional circles would have an increased interest in the clothing she wears in Instagram photos published in the context of the signing of a contract that makes her the new creative director of a fashion company.

Implications

The court’s decision is hardly surprising, but rather confirms the existing case law regarding prior disclosures that are prejudicial to novelty. However, the example also clearly shows that the one-year grace period can often become a stumbling block. This does not only apply to world-famous pop stars. The publication of photos of a new design on the company website or the corresponding social media channels also quickly constitutes a disclosure within the meaning of Art. 7 CDR. If no designs have been registered at this time, you should therefore always be aware that the clock for filing an application can start ticking from this publication.