We love art and give it a legal basis,
even in complex technical products and consumer goods.

Copyright Litigation

rospatt is proud to have established copyright protection for consumer goods like the «free-swinging» steel tube chair with no hind legs by Mart Stam, which has become an icon of furniture design. Naturally, rospatt’s case history in copyright protection extends much further than this. We have litigated copyright cases involving advertisements, architecture, database protection, furniture, movies, paintings, photography, software code, website texts and many more.

Related Landmark Decisions

Stahlrohrstuhl II (Steel-Tube Chair II) – BGH 1981 GRUR 820
Anyone contesting copyright-law protection for an art work based on prior art is required to explain and demonstrate the specific appearance of that known geometric shape.

Stahlrohrstuhl I (Steel-Tube Chair I) – BGH 1961 GRUR 635
Germany‘s Federal Supreme Court recognized the rear-leg-less (free-swinging) chair by Mart Stam as an aesthetic creation worthy of recognition as a work of art. Whether it is judged as qualifying as a work of art depends solely on the situation and viewpoints prevailing at the time of its creation.

Hummel-Figuren I‑III (Hummel Figures I‑III) – BGH 1952 GRUR 516; 1961 GRUR 581; 1970 GRUR 250
In this series of decisions, Germany‘s Federal Supreme Court laid the foundation for protecting the design of artistic child figures under copyright law and registered-design law, with complementary protection under unfair competition law. It also established the principle that religious congregations have exclusive rights of use with regard to copyrights belonging to their members.