In case you missed it -- and many of us have -- here's news of a registered Community design infringement case that is destined for a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg: it's Case C-419/15 Thomas Philipps. The object at the heart of the underlying national litigation is none other than a laundry ball (the illustration on the right is simply there in order to familiarise readers with the concept: the reference does not indicate the specific features of the ball design in dispute), and the questions referred for clarification relate to the interpretation of Council Regulation 6/2002 on Community designs:

Does the first sentence of Article 33(2) of Council Regulation 6/2002 preclude a licensee who has not been entered in the register of Community designs from bringing claims for the infringement of a registered Community design?

In the event that the first question is answered in the negative: may the exclusive licensee of a Community design, with the consent of the right holder, bring an action on its own claiming damages for its own loss under Article 32(3) of Council Regulation 6/2002 or can the licensee only intervene in an action brought by the right holder for an infringement of its Community design under Article 32(4) of that regulation?

If any reader wishes to advise the UK government as to whether it should concern itself with this reference from the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf (which this blogger thinks to be most unlikely), the thing to do is to email pertinent comments to policy@ipo.gov.uk by 17 September 2015.