Rejection of infringement of design rights in baby bath leaves Shnuggle feeling blue
James J. Cross, Janet Strath · Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice · 2020
Shnuggle Ltd v Munchkin Inc [2019] EWHC 3149 (IPEC) (20 November 2019) In this dispute relating to design rights in baby baths, the IP Enterprise Court has rejected claims for infringement of two registered Community designs and various UK unregistered design rights related to the Shnuggle baby bath (‘the Shnuggle Designs’). The claimant, Shnuggle Ltd, alleged that its design rights had been infringed by the defendant Munchkin Inc’s rival ‘Sit & Soak’ bath. However, HHJ Melissa Clarke held that the Sit & Soak bath gave a different overall visual impression to the registered Community designs (RCDs) (one of which she found to be invalid). Although it was clear that Munchkin had the claimant’s design in mind during the design process—the designer of the Sit & Soak had even described his objective as ‘aiming for a Shnuggle inspired design with some added Munchkin flair and features’—the judge found that Munchkin had not copied or substantially reproduced the whole of the protected design, and so the claim for infringement of the unregistered design rights (UDRs) also failed.