Designer wins case against Dunnes

There was bad news for people who like designer clothing at Dunnes Stores prices as the European Court of Justice yesterday ruled on a long-running case.

British fashion house Karen Millen claimed the Irish chain had ripped off its designs for a shirt and a black jumper in 2005.

The shirts — in striped stone and blue — were for sale in Karen Millen shops for €150 each, while the Dunnes version could be bought for a third of that.

Karen Millen said it knew employees of the 70-year-old Irish chain had bought the clothing and had the designs copied and produced.

Dunnes did not deny this but insisted the garments it sold in its shops from 2007 had no major element that set it apart from all others that would make it unique.

Karen Millen had not registered the design and was relying on an EU rule that a new design not sold to the public before and that to the “informed user” looks different to other designs is automatically protected.

In 2007, Karen Millen took Dunnes to court to prevent it using the designs in future and seeking damages.

Dunnes argued that the British company had not proved the garments had individual character, and so was not entitled to protection.

The Supreme Court asked the European Court of Justice to define precisely what the EU rule meant and how it applied to the case in question.

The court came down firmly in favour of the originator of the design, saying Karen Millen only had to indicate the features that give the designs their individual character, and did not need to provide any evidence to support that.

It said that “the individual character of a design for the purposes of protection under the regulation must be assessed by reference to one or more specific, individualised, defined, and identified designs from among the designs which have been made available to the public previously”.

Simon Bennett, an expert in intellectual property with the law firm Fox Williams, told trade magazine Drapers: “The decision is a very significant victory for designers and reaffirms the value of unregistered design rights in tackling potential design copycats.”

The case will now go back to the Supreme Court where damages are likely to be assessed.