Similarity of design (Infringement case)
(Conclusion) Defendant’s design is not Similar to the registered design. (Design right owner lost.)
In the resistered design, a semicircular thin plate is attached to a wire-like line on the upper side of the front side of the neck, whereas in the design of the Defendant’s Clothes hanger, the thin plate like the Design is not attached to the front side of the neck.
In this regard, the design of Defendant’s Clothes hanger provides the viewer with an aesthetic impression that differs from the resistered design.
The commonality between the resistered design and the design of the Defendant’s Clothes hanger does not have an impact on the viewer beyond the difference in the absence of the neck lamellae described above, in light of the geometry that is also found in Prior degisns.
<Writer: Hideki Takaishi (Attorney-at-law licensed in Japan and California)>
https://www.ip.courts.go.jp/app/files/hanrei_en/370/001370.pdf