A knotty problem: how to establish unregistered design claims

In October 2008, the German Federal Supreme Court held in its well-known Bakery Press judgment (in line with the Frankfurt District Court and the Hamburg Appeal Court) that a design enjoys protection as an unregistered Community design only if it was first made available to the public within the territory of the European Union (EU); a disclosure outside the territory of the Community—even if it could have become known to specialised circles operating within the Community—would not meet the requirements under Articles 11, 110a (5) Sentence 2 of the Community Designs Regulation (CDR).