Landbouw & Veeteelt·Recht.nl·8 mei 2025

A-G CJEU on copyrights protection of applied art

In his opinion in the Mio and Konektra-cases, Advocate-General Szpunar is very clear on the lack of relevance of 'artistic merit' when it comes to copyright protection of industrial design (chairs, watches, bikes, earrings etc.). It will be interesting to see whether the European Court of Justice follows the A-G, since this would signal a major shift for the Netherlands - as works of applied art are protected under the same (low) threshold as other copyrightable works.