Contrary to what is generally assumed, copyright does not only apply to books, films, paintings and design objects. Everyday utensils (works of applied art) can also be protected by copyright. Manufacturers of toilet seats, dustbins and urban vacuum cleaners may invoke copyright on their products against competitors who infringe them, if the conditions for copyright protection are met.

A product is eligible for copyright protection if the work is (i) original, and (ii) precisely and objectively definable. In a case about the city vacuum cleaners pictured above, the court ruled that the invoked Glutton city vacuum cleaner (left) meets these requirements. The Glutton is original because of (a) the aerodynamic and pointed design of the hood that consists of one piece, (b) the nose profile of the waste vacuum cleaner, and (c) the positioning of the control panel. All of these design elements have been adopted in the Vanguard urban vacuum cleaner (right), which means that its overall impression is the same as that of the Glutton, and that this is an infringement of copyright. It is also interesting that the Court assumes that the design of the Vanguard is derived from the Glutton, on the basis that the manufacturer of the Vanguard was formerly the exclusive distributor of the Glutton and had purchased many parts of the Glutton just before the end of the cooperation for the first versions of the Vanguard.

The moral of the story: you might not look back when passing a city vacuum cleaner, but its design, like so many everyday items, may be copyrighted. With proper justification, a competitor who comes too close to your design can often be stopped.

Mathijs Peijnenburg

24 September 2021