Glud & Marstrand announced recently that BDMO's Ironpack is currently excluded from the European market following a court injunction. However, according to BDMO, there is more to the story, and this is only a temporary injunction, pending a final decision. G&M developed the SteelBook media packaging concept, sold exclusively by Scanavo.
According to Glud & Marstrand: in the summer of 2009 the BDMO Group (Bruggeman & Desouter in Belgium and Montreuil Offset in France) started marketing a SteelBook lookalike under the name Ironpack. In October 2009 the Court in Paris (Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris) agreed that the product was an illegal copy of SteelBook and granted G&M an injunction covering all EU countries. The injunction was based on G&M's registered design rights to SteelBook and was confirmed by court order of 7 January 2010.
G&M's senior vice president, Stig Rasmussen, stated: "We consider the injunction an important milestone in our protection of the SteelBook media packaging and we will - where necessary - pursue our rights also outside the EU against competitors trying to reap the benefits of our investments in innovative packaging."
According to BDMO: in October 2009, G&M requested the president of the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris to pronounce temporary measures prohibiting the BDMO Group from commercialising its Ironpack. This was in the course of an ex parte procedure - without BDMO having any knowledge of the request or any possibility of defence. BDMO then requested the withdrawal of those measures as it considered that G&M's design was not valid and that the Ironpack was not an infringement of the SteelBook.
In a decision dated 7 January 2010, the judge refused to withdraw the measures as he considered that the infringement was "plausible".
Geert Casselman, BDMO's managing director, told One to One: "BDMO has always made a point of respecting intellectual property rights and shall continue to do so. However, it is very important to note, which G&M have omitted to state, that this latest decision is only temporary and can be appealed." BDMO does intend to appeal In addition, said Casselman, the judge cannot be said to have agreed that the Ironpack is an illegal copy of the SteelBook: he merely decided that the infringement was "plausible".
A subsequent message from lawyers in Denmark stated: "Referring to the press release concerning a legal dispute between Glud & Marstrand A/S and the BDMO Group we wish to clarify that the decision issued by the court in Paris is NOT final and may be appealed by BDMO and that the case on the merits has not yet been decided. A final decision is expected by the end of 2010."
(more pics at link, too late for me to post them all right now)
I am guessing BB will get it too, especially if DVD-sized...
