Yves Saint Laurent Has Won A Legal Victory Against The Swedish Textile Giant H&M Over The Registration of Two Handbag Designs.

In a judgement handed down today, the Court of Justice of the European Union has just delivered a ruling that settles a long heated dispute between H&M and the French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent. The dispute centred on two Community design registrations granted to YSL in 2006 by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM, now the EUIPO) for handbag designs. H&M sought to have the designs invalidated on the grounds that they lacked “individual character” within the meaning of Article 6 of the Community Design Regulation, relying on earlier handbag designs to support its claim.

OHIM’s Cancellation Division and subsequently its Board of Appeal rejected the invalidity applications, and the General Court confirmed these decisions, dismissing H&M’s appeals. The Court held that the overall impression of YSL’s designs differed sufficiently from the earlier designs cited by H&M. The Court pointed to differences in the shape (rectangular vs rounded), construction (single panel vs multiple stitched parts), and surface finish (decorated vs plain), which together created a distinct visual appearance. Importantly, the Court acknowledged that while handbag designers enjoy a high degree of design freedom, this does not mean minor differences are disregarded in fact, these distinctions were found to be significant enough to produce a different overall impression on the informed user.

This case confirms that under EU design law, the perception of the “informed user” plays a central role in assessing individual character. While the designer’s degree of freedom is relevant, it cannot alone determine the outcome; rather, it serves to reinforce or moderate the informed user’s perception.. The ruling also highlights the strategic value of detailed, high-quality imagery in design registrations, as the courts relied heavily on subtle visual distinctions to uphold the validity of YSL’s designs.

Contrary to earlier views - such as those expressed in Raustiala and Sprigman’s “Piracy Paradox” (2006) - that design rights are underused in fashion, more recent research (e.g., Phipps-Rufus, 2015) suggests that brands increasingly turn to registered design law to protect the appearance of fashion products. The decision in YSL v H&M reaffirms that the threshold for individual character is not prohibitively high, and that even in industries like fashion, where trends often overlap, a design does not need to be radically original to gain protection. While H&M was unsuccessful in this instance, the case sets a useful precedent for how fashion design rights are interpreted under EU law. H&M retained the right to appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union, the EU’s highest court, within two months of the ruling.

H&M may appeal against this judgment to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the highest court of the EU and has around two months to do so, we’ll keep you updated with more news.