A new case involving the company CROCS, Inc. and its iconic shoe design demonstrates how important it is to file designs well in advance of their disclosure to the public.
To benefit from protection at the European level, the design must be new, among other criteria. However, an applicant can destroy his or her own novelty if it is disclosed to the public too early. This is what happened in the present case.
The CROC’S shoe design had been registered in 2024 but marketed as early as 2023.
The Spanish company GOR FACTORY applied for the cancellation of the CROCS design registered on November 22, 2004, based on extracts from a website dating from April 2023 and presenting the same designs.
The European Office considered that the earlier disclosure destroyed the novelty and canceled the model for lack of individual character. An appeal is also likely in this case, which strongly impacts the rights of the American company on a very popular model.
