Taiwan’s Intellectual Property and Commerce Court found dining utensils not protectable as artistic work

In a decision rendered on March 17, 2022, Taiwan’s Intellectual Property and Commerce Court (“IPC Court”) determines that Appellant’s alleged design of dining utensils do not constitute protectable artistic work under Copyright Act, and rejects Appellant’s copyright claim accordingly.

According to Copyright Act, for a work to be eligible for protection as artistic work, such work must be original, namely, the work demonstrates aesthetic appeal through artistic skills, such as sketching, painting, sculpturing, etc. 

Here, the Appellant argued that the dining utensils it created should be  copyrightable as artistic work, alleging that the shape and curve of the outer appearance of the tableware demonstrate aesthetic feature. The IPC Court disagreed. 

While noting the edge of Appellant’s plate demonstrates a triangular curve, the IPC Court still considers the overall shape and design of the plate are functional, which aim to hold or contain the meal or soup, and have not demonstrated unique or decorative aesthetic characteristic (see below).

Although there is a rabbit icon featured on the top of Appellant’s plate (see below, right), testimony from witness already showed that such icon is a pure reference to a popular cartoon figure, without any further originality contributed by the Appellant. As a result, the IPC Court is of the view that the plate, the fork, the spoon, etc., are only useful articles without showing aesthetic feature via sufficient artistic skills. The shapes and structures of these articles are all closely related to their utilitarian aspects as dining tools. The Appellant’s tableware products should not be copyrightable as artistic work.

The Appellant further argued that the alleged tableware is an award-winning product, which should be sufficient to prove its originality and should support a finding of eligibility for copyright protection. The IPC Court, however, opines that the fact that the tableware product ever won Red Dot Design Award has no bearing with whether the outer design of said product is copyrightable. Considering that products like forks, spoons, and plates are dining tools and their structures and shapes are not separable from the functions they serve, and that there is no noticeable difference between Appellant’s tableware products and other ordinary dining tools, the IPC Court finds Appellant fails to meet the burden of proving originality. 

Based on the above, the IPC Court rules that although there is similarity between the Appellant’s tableware and Appellee’s product, there is no infringement of a valid copyright. 

Source:

https://law.judicial.gov.tw/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=IPCV,110%2c%e6%b0%91%e8%91%97%e4%b8%8a%e6%98%93%2c6%2c20220317%2c1