Geberit International AG v. Voordelingdesignsanitair.nl B.V., District Court The Hague, summary proceedings, 22 August 2024, Case no. ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2024:13378
Summary proceedings. Patent and design rights relating to toilet control panels. Urgent interest. Patent infringement was not disputed, therefore an injunction combined with ancillary claims was granted, no interest in an additional injunction based on design rights.
The interim relief Judge:
“Voordelig Design Sanitair disputes that Geberit has an urgent interest in its claims, because Voordelig Design Sanitair removed the infringing products from its website immediately after receiving the formal notice and showed itself willing to sign the declaration of abstention and to reach a mutual settlement with Geberit. In the opinion of the summary judge, this does not detract from Geberit’s urgent interest in its claims.
“It was not until 7 August 2024, one day before the oral hearing, that Voordelig Design Sanitair made an offer to reach a settlement. This did not lead to an agreement between the parties. Moreover, since the infringing products offered by Voordelig Design Sanitair can (still) be consulted via channels other than its website and the (threatened) infringement continues, the urgent nature of the claims instituted by Geberit is given.
“Now that Voordelig Design Sanitair has not disputed that it infringes the patent and the design of Geberit by offering, selling and keeping in stock the control panels that it sells under the name ‘Sigma 01’, the injunction claimed under 1. can be granted. As Geberit also acknowledged when asked during the oral hearing, after the patent injunction has been granted, it no longer has an urgent interest in the additional granting of an injunction based on design rights. Therefore, the interim relief judge in these summary proceedings will limit itself to granting the requested patent injunction.
A copy of the judgment (in Dutch) can be read here.
