Can copyright protection for applied art, such as designer furniture, be applied within the European Union to products originating from non-EU countries? This question was answered by the European court in a lawsuit between the Swiss furniture manufacturer Vitra and the Dutch retail chain Kwantum.
Vitra vs Kwantum
Vitra claims intellectual property rights, including copyright, to a chair it made to the design of American Charles and Ray Eames. Kwantum has marketed a chair that Vitra says is very similar to its own. As a result, according to Vitra, Kwantum is infringing its copyright. The court in the first instance rejected Vitra's claims, but on appeal they were actually upheld. Following this, Kwantum appealed in cassation, after which questions were put to the European Court by the Supreme Court.
European vs national copyright law
The issue revolved around whether European member states may use the Berne Convention's so-called “reciprocity test.” This test means that works of applied art from countries that offer only design protection (such as the United States) are not automatically entitled to copyright protection in other countries. Vitra argued that this test should not apply because it is inconsistent with Union law as set forth in the European Copyright Directive (2001/29/EC). On the contrary, Kwantum wants to invoke the reciprocity test.
Judgment of the European Court
The European Court ruled that the European Copyright Directive (2001/29/EC) takes precedence over the Berne Convention. This means that member states may not impose additional limitations based on the reciprocity test. If a work of applied art within the EU can be considered a “work” under the Copyright Directive, this protection applies regardless of the country of origin or nationality of the author. The Court emphasized that only the EU legislature can impose limitations on the rights under this directive.
Conclusion
With this, the Court makes it clear that works of applied art, such as the Charles and Ray Eames chair, also enjoy copyright protection within the EU, even if they originate from a non-EU country such as the United States. Member States cannot apply national rules that conflict with European law in this area. European law is leading, especially when it comes to copyright harmonization within the EU single market.
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Hereby the Dutch version.
