Guangzhou Stars Pulse Co. Ltd. registered an industrial design for a group of sensor panel for electrical toothbrush under No DM/240186.

The Chinese company decided to extend protection of the design to Russia. The patent office refused recognition and explained that an industrial design may be registered if it represents the outer looks of the object including a composite object. In doing so, it may consist of separate elements and may be disassembled and again assembled. An independent part of the object should be able to be removed without affecting the integrity of the object and should be good for a repeated assembly of the object. An independent part of the object is a part visible during normal use of the object. The claimed design for a “sensor panel of the electric toothbrush”, proceeding from its name, discloses the outer look of a fragment which cannot be removed and thus cannot be regarded as having an outer look and cannot be protected as a design. Examination of the design was carried out on the basis of eight images shown above as was requested by the applicant

The Chinese company appealed the official action at the Chamber of Patent Disputes. In order to overcome the rejection the applicant changed the name of the design to “An electrical tooth brush with a sensor panel.” 

The Chamber recounted provisions of the law and of the regulations regarding industrial designs and confirmed that the applicant claimed a sensor panel for electrical toothbrush as shown on the picture below.

Examination of the picture shows that the sensor panel is not an independent part of the toothbrush because it shows the sensor panel and a fragment of the back part of the toothbrush. It cannot be removed without breaking the integrity of the toothbrush.

The applicant changed the name of the applied industrial design and thus removed the objection of the patent office. The Chamber of Patent Disputes agreed that correction of the name of the design removed the basis for the refusal and allowed registration of the design.

The question arises whether the applicant could ask the examiner during examination of the application to change the name of the design. The answer is negative. The name of the international registration could not be changed at that time. But, when the issue was discussed during hearing at the Chamber of Patent Disputes, such impediment did not work and the parties found a convenient solution. It should be noted that a search report was part of the application documents and thus all images of the toothbrush characterizing the design were taken into account during examination by the Chamber.