Welcome to the new edition of the KPMG Intellectual Property newsletter on developments in the world of copyright, patents, trademarks, designs, domains and other Intellectual Property rights (“IPRs”).

Once again, we have collected a variety of interesting articles from all over the world. KPMG firms are proud of their global network of IP lawyers, enabling KPMG professionals to offer an international service to clients in this area.

We start with some insights into the digital world. The metaverse poses a whole new universe of chances and challenges. In this edition, we analyze some of them with regard to legal and tax aspects.

The field of Intellectual Property is a rapidly changing one, with governments trying to set a framework for further growth. Therefore, it is not surprising that laws are constantly revised or newly enacted. In this edition, we highlight the planned amendments to the Polish Industrial Property Law, the amendments to Vietnamese IP law, which were already ratified and will come into force in 2023, as well as the new General Audiovisual Communication law recently published in Spain. A major step regarding the international protection of designs was implemented with China’s accession to the Hague System. We take a closer look on what this means to you.

As always, we report on important court decisions from various jurisdictions and analyze their impact, whether it is the CJEU’s ruling on the Passenger Name Record Directive, the conflict between the right “to be forgotten” and “freedom of speech” that the Argentine Supreme Court had to deal with, or various rulings on copyright protection and color trademarks, to name only a few.

Check out the contribution from Belgium regarding a ruling by the Court of Appeal of Ghent on a case concerning an alleged infringement of an artist's copyright by a furniture manufacturer and distributor.

Discover the complete newsletter below.

Proof of originality in copyright protection

On 7 February 2022, the Court of Appeal of Ghent ruled on a case concerning an alleged infringement of an artist's copyright by a furniture manufacturer and distributor. The Court confirmed the burden of proof on the author of a work and reiterated that copyright protection does not extend to ideas, procedures, methods, or mathematical concepts as such.

The facts underlying the case were as follows: An artist filed a claim against a Belgian furniture manufacturer and distributor. In his claim, the artist stated that the furniture manufacturer was infringing his copyright by offering an (alleged) illegal reproduction of a work by the artist for sale. The artist claimed the (alleged) original work is characterized by a creation and processing of folded strips of paper, which are brought together in a certain configuration and arrangement in a (plexi) glass frame.

The judge at first instance (Commercial Court of Ghent) ruled in favor of the furniture manufacturer and dismissed the claim. The artist lodged an appeal against this judgment.

In its ruling, the Court of Appeal reiterated that for the artist to enjoy copyright protection on his work, it is necessary for him to prove that his creations are the expression of his own intellectual creation.

> Read the full article here.