Att skydda en varuutstyrsel
(2011) JURM02 20112Department of Law
- Abstract
- A product's design is crucial to how popular it will become on the market. This has resulted in that significant resources are laid down to give products an exterior as attractive as possible. To make sure that the spent resources should not be wrecked, it is important to protect the design adequately. This can e.g. be done by different, partially overlapping, kinds of intellectual property protection.
It would not be uncommon if most people, hearing the word "design", first of all would think of design furniture, cars or various brand articles. This association is not wrong, but it does not give away the entire image. A com-pletely different area in which design is important is the packaging industry. With the huge range of packed... (More) - A product's design is crucial to how popular it will become on the market. This has resulted in that significant resources are laid down to give products an exterior as attractive as possible. To make sure that the spent resources should not be wrecked, it is important to protect the design adequately. This can e.g. be done by different, partially overlapping, kinds of intellectual property protection.
It would not be uncommon if most people, hearing the word "design", first of all would think of design furniture, cars or various brand articles. This association is not wrong, but it does not give away the entire image. A com-pletely different area in which design is important is the packaging industry. With the huge range of packed goods, including e.g. food and consumer goods, the outfit of a product is a factor that can distinguish a packaging from the competitors ' packaging. “Outfit of a product” means the shape or the outfit of a product or its packaging.
There are various possibilities to protect packaging against counterfeiting, each with different strengths and weaknesses. In order to make a thorough investigation of the suitability of the alternatives of protection, this essay has been limited to cover only trademark and design protection. The purpose of this investigation is to, as far as possible, clarify the extent to which the different options of protection can be used to protect a packaging design as well as the advantages and disadvantages that come with the two different options.
According to the law on trademarks, a packaging can be protected if it meets the requirement of distinctive character. Trademark protection is not a pure external appearance protection but protects a design in its function to indicate origin. It is not enough that a consumer recognizes a product; instead trademark protection requires that the product is associated with a particular business. Protection is not granted for shapes needed to obtain a technical result, shapes that derive from the nature of the goods or for shapes that give substantial value to the goods.
In order for a packaging to be protected as a design it must satisfy the re-quirements of novelty and individual character. Design protection is a pure external appearance protection. It shall not be granted for elements that have a certain appearance exclusively due to a technical function. Benefits of design protection is that a specific part of a product can be protected, which means that this part meets the requirement of distinctiveness easier com-pared to if the product would be evaluated as a whole.
Whether a packaging fulfils the requirements for trademark and design pro-tection is affected by what an average consumer and a knowledgeable user think of the distinctiveness and individual character of the product. It is also affected by who this consumer and user are according to the court. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- En produkts formgivning är avgörande för hur eftertraktad den blir på marknaden, något som resulterat i att stora resurser läggs ner på att ge pro-dukter ett så tilltalande yttre som möjligt. För att investerade resurser inte ska gå om intet är det viktigt att skydda formgivningen på ett adekvat sätt, vilket t.ex. kan göras med hjälp av olika, till viss del överlappande, im-materialrättsliga skydd.
Det torde inte vara ovanligt att ordet formgivning i första hand för männi-skors tankar till produkter som designmöbler, bilar eller olika märkesvaror. Denna association är inte fel, men den ger långt ifrån hela bilden. Ett helt annat område inom vilket formgivning är viktigt är förpackningsindustrin. Med det enorma utbud av förpackade varor... (More) - En produkts formgivning är avgörande för hur eftertraktad den blir på marknaden, något som resulterat i att stora resurser läggs ner på att ge pro-dukter ett så tilltalande yttre som möjligt. För att investerade resurser inte ska gå om intet är det viktigt att skydda formgivningen på ett adekvat sätt, vilket t.ex. kan göras med hjälp av olika, till viss del överlappande, im-materialrättsliga skydd.
Det torde inte vara ovanligt att ordet formgivning i första hand för männi-skors tankar till produkter som designmöbler, bilar eller olika märkesvaror. Denna association är inte fel, men den ger långt ifrån hela bilden. Ett helt annat område inom vilket formgivning är viktigt är förpackningsindustrin. Med det enorma utbud av förpackade varor som finns, bl.a. livsmedel och dagligvaror, är förpackningens formgivning som varuutstyrsel en faktor som kan skilja ut denna från konkurrenternas förpackningar. Med begreppet va-ruutstyrsel avses formen eller utstyrseln på en vara eller dess förpackning.
Det finns olika möjligheter att skydda en varuutstyrsel mot efterbildning, var och en med olika styrkor och svagheter. För att kunna göra en grundlig analys av skyddsalternativens lämplighet har arbetet begränsats till att end-ast omfatta varumärkesskydd och mönsterskydd. Syftet med uppsatsen är att i möjligaste mån klargöra i vilken utsträckning de olika skyddsalternativen kan användas för att skydda en förpacknings formgivning samt vilka för- och nackdelar som finns med de olika alternativen.
Enligt varumärkesrätten kan en förpackning skyddas om den tillgodoser kravet på särskiljningsförmåga. Varumärkesskyddet är inget renodlat utse-endeskydd utan skyddar en formgivning i dess funktion som ursprungs-angivelse. Det är inte tillräckligt att en konsument känner igen en vara utan krav ställs på att varan associeras med en viss näringsverksamhet. Skydd ges inte för former som krävs för att uppnå ett tekniskt resultat, för former som följer av varans art eller för former som ger varan ett betydande värde.
För att en förpacknings ska kunna mönsterskyddas måste den tillgodose kravet på nyhet och på särprägel. Mönsterskyddet är ett rent utseendeskydd. Det beviljas inte för detaljer som har ett visst utseende uteslutande på grund av teknisk funktion. Fördelar med mönsterskyddet är att en del av en pro-dukt kan skyddas vilket innebär att denna del uppfyller kravet på särprägel enklare jämfört med om produkten skulle bedömas som en helhet.
Huruvida en förpackning uppfyller rekvisiten för varumärkes- och mönster-skydd påverkas av hur en genomsnittskonsument respektive en kunnig an-vändare ser på formgivningens särskiljningsförmåga respektive särprägel samt vem domstolen anser denne konsument respektive användare vara. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/2203557
- author
- Sonander, Fanny LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- To protect an outfit of a product
- course
- JURM02 20112
- year
- 2011
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- shape of a product, varuutstyrsel, förpackning, egentlig varuutstyrsel, varuärkesskydd, mönsterskydd
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 2203557
- date added to LUP
- 2011-11-14 13:19:32
- date last changed
- 2011-11-14 13:19:32
@misc{2203557,
abstract = {{A product's design is crucial to how popular it will become on the market. This has resulted in that significant resources are laid down to give products an exterior as attractive as possible. To make sure that the spent resources should not be wrecked, it is important to protect the design adequately. This can e.g. be done by different, partially overlapping, kinds of intellectual property protection.
It would not be uncommon if most people, hearing the word "design", first of all would think of design furniture, cars or various brand articles. This association is not wrong, but it does not give away the entire image. A com-pletely different area in which design is important is the packaging industry. With the huge range of packed goods, including e.g. food and consumer goods, the outfit of a product is a factor that can distinguish a packaging from the competitors ' packaging. “Outfit of a product” means the shape or the outfit of a product or its packaging.
There are various possibilities to protect packaging against counterfeiting, each with different strengths and weaknesses. In order to make a thorough investigation of the suitability of the alternatives of protection, this essay has been limited to cover only trademark and design protection. The purpose of this investigation is to, as far as possible, clarify the extent to which the different options of protection can be used to protect a packaging design as well as the advantages and disadvantages that come with the two different options.
According to the law on trademarks, a packaging can be protected if it meets the requirement of distinctive character. Trademark protection is not a pure external appearance protection but protects a design in its function to indicate origin. It is not enough that a consumer recognizes a product; instead trademark protection requires that the product is associated with a particular business. Protection is not granted for shapes needed to obtain a technical result, shapes that derive from the nature of the goods or for shapes that give substantial value to the goods.
In order for a packaging to be protected as a design it must satisfy the re-quirements of novelty and individual character. Design protection is a pure external appearance protection. It shall not be granted for elements that have a certain appearance exclusively due to a technical function. Benefits of design protection is that a specific part of a product can be protected, which means that this part meets the requirement of distinctiveness easier com-pared to if the product would be evaluated as a whole.
Whether a packaging fulfils the requirements for trademark and design pro-tection is affected by what an average consumer and a knowledgeable user think of the distinctiveness and individual character of the product. It is also affected by who this consumer and user are according to the court.}},
author = {{Sonander, Fanny}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Att skydda en varuutstyrsel}},
year = {{2011}},
}