| Summary: | The thesis seeks to develop a normatively well-grounded and practically viable framework for the registration of product shapes under EU design and trade mark law, taking proper account of doctrinal overlaps. The institutional challenge is to develop a model which avoids unnecessary duplication of protection while permitting each regime to function in a principled and complementary manner.
The thesis adopts a multi-dimensional comparative approach focussing on four central criteria (subject-matter, subject-matter exclusions, protection thresholds and scope). Firstly, US Federal law is employed as a comparator for subsisting legal doctrine and theoretical rationales. Secondly, a comparative analysis is undertaken between the two regimes to pinpoint the aspects which distinguish between a ‘design’ and ‘trade mark’ right vesting in features of product shape.
The thesis develops a normative model of protection and advances interpretations which EU tribunals should adopt to give effect to the underlying rationales of both registration regimes, as applied to product shapes, while mitigating against over-protection and 'regime clash'.
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