Order of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 9 September 2011 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Corte d'appello di Milano (Italy)) - Cassina S.p.A v Alivar Srl, Galliani Host Arredamenti Srl
(First subparagraph of Article 104(3) of the Rules of Procedure - Industrial and commercial property - Directive 98/71/EC - Legal protection of designs - Article 17 - Obligation concerning the cumulation of design protection with copyright protection -National law precluding copyright protection in the case of designs which entered the public domain before its entry into force)
Language of the case: Italian
Referring court
Corte d'appello di Milano
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicant: Cassina S.p.A
Defendants: Alivar Srl, Galliani Host Arredamenti Srl
Re:
Reference for a preliminary ruling - Corte d'appello di Milano - Interpretation of Articles 17 and 19 of Directive 98/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 on the legal protection of designs - National legislation which transposed the directive into national law by introducing copyright protection for designs - Right of a Member State to extend the conditions for the grant of such protection
Operative part of the order
Article 17 of Directive 98/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 on the legal protection of designs, must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State which either excludes, either completely or within the limits of prior use, from protection by the law of copyright of that Member State designs which have entered the public domain before the entry into force of that legislation, with regard to all third parties who have previously manufactured or marketed in the national territory products based on those designs before that date.
____________1 - 2 - OJ C 179, 3.7.2010.