Similarity of design (Infringement case)
(Conclusion) Defendant’s design is not Similar to the registered design. (Design right owner lost.)
Consumers (contractors) select products by looking at catalogs or actual products. The catalogs show front-view drawings as product drawings.
Whereas the resistered design provides an orderly aesthetic feel, in Defendant’s Block mat, the quarter-circle notches provide a decorative aesthetic feel that differs from the resistered design due to the fact that they are circular when aligned with the quarter-circle notches of the other blocks and the relatively wide grooves between the blocks.
<Writer: Hideki Takaishi (Attorney-at-law licensed in Japan and California)>
https://www.ip.courts.go.jp/app/files/hanrei_en/522/000522.pdf