Similarity of “article (goods)” (Infringement case)
(Conclusion) Defendant’s “article” is NOT Similar to the registered design. (Design right owner lost.)
There may be no design separated from an article.
Simirality of articles means that when a registered design or a design similar thereto is applied to an article, confusion may occuer.
In this case, the article of the resistered design is “Carabiner” (mountain climbing tool), while Defendant’article is “hurt shaped accesarry”; therefore, “article” is not similar each other.
※In this case, in the column “Description of the article to the design,” the phrase “for decorating the key holder, etc.” was written. However, the phrase “Description of the article to the design” was judged to only help the understanding of the article and not to affect the classification of the article.
<Writer: Hideki Takaishi (Attorney-at-law licensed in Japan and California)>
https://www.ip.courts.go.jp/app/files/hanrei_en/416/000416.pdf