Originally Posted by
Duragrouch
Brompton probably sued for general fold design or aesthetic design being associated with their brand identity, but yeah, you're gonna lose if the defendant's design represents significant improvement. It may get weird with Brompton clones that are dead lookalikes, differing only in the frame being welded and not brazed. But I think the patent has expired so they would have to sue based on the folding design being a "trademark" design.
We've covered this in a couple of previous threads. In a nutshell, the EU courts have ruled that:
1) Copying Brompton's name, graphics, literature, or font is a violation of EU trademark law.
Curiously, multiple t-shirt/wearable/soft goods companies imprint with Brompton's name using Brompton's font and/or imprint with Brompton's graphics and that doesn't seem to bother the company.
2) Brompton's classic Andrew Ritchie trifold design is not artwork covered by copyright, but a functional industrial design covered by a patent that expired decades ago.
Brompton took both Dahon (2017) and Chedech (2019) to EU court, apparently on a specious "3D Copyright" claim. Brompton lost both times.