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| Trunki firm loses Supreme Court case over design | Trunki firm loses Supreme Court case over design |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A company that sells children's ride-on suitcases has lost a court battle with a rival over product design. | A company that sells children's ride-on suitcases has lost a court battle with a rival over product design. |
| Magmatic - which sells Trunki suitcases decorated to look like animals or insects - said PMS International's Kiddee Case range infringed registered design rights. | Magmatic - which sells Trunki suitcases decorated to look like animals or insects - said PMS International's Kiddee Case range infringed registered design rights. |
| Five Supreme Court judges analysed the dispute at a hearing in November and have now ruled against Magmatic | |
| Lawyers said the ruling will have "profound" design implications. | Lawyers said the ruling will have "profound" design implications. |
| The design battle had already gone through the High Court, which backed Bristol-based Magmatic, and the Court of Appeal, which backed Basildon's PMS International. | |
| But in its ruling on Wednesday, the Supreme Court backed the Court of Appeal - a move experts described as a "massive blow to Trunki". | |
| Lawyer Mike Gardner, a partner at law firm Wedlake Bell, said the case showed how difficult it could be for businesses to protect their designs. | |
| He said: "The court expressed sympathy with Magmatic that, in this case, it could not do anything to stop the sales of a product copied by a rival. | |
| "But design law did not protect ideas - it protected the appearance of products. " | |
| Drawings | |
| Mr Gardner added: "Magmatic's registered design showed computer-aided drawings of the Trunki which included some shading and dark colours for the wheels. | |
| "These had to be taken as part of the design and not ignored as Magmatic contended." | |
| Magmatic registered its ride-on suitcase design in October 2003 as six computer-generated images. | |
| Its founder Rob Law appeared on BBC Two television show Dragons' Den in 2006, unsuccessfully seeking investment for his Trunki case. | |
| After he was rejected by the Dragons, he went on to sell more than two million of the suitcases in more than 60 countries. | After he was rejected by the Dragons, he went on to sell more than two million of the suitcases in more than 60 countries. |