DESIGN | The Court of Milan on the informed user

On 12 March 2024, the Court of Milan handed down its judgment No. 2775/2024, concerning the informed user in the assessment of design protection and infringement. The individual character of a design is present whenever the overall appearance of the product creates, in comparison with a previously disclosed design, a different overall impression in an informed user. The judges clarified that the informed user is a fictional character based on the recipients of the product, who are well acquainted with the product sector to which it refers, as they are interested in it for professional or other reasons and are well informed of the available offer. Informed users do not need to have the degree of expertise required for persons skilled in the art in relation to patents. In light of these principles, the Court of Milan found that the claimant’s ice cream machines did not infringe the defendant’s design rights, as they display aesthetic and material differences.

Newsletter n. 96 – May 2024