On 4 December 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in Joined Cases C-580/23 and C-795/23 on the copyright standard for works of applied art. Case C-795/23 arose from the dispute between USM and Konektra over the USM Haller modular furniture system. The Court held that applied art is not subject to a higher originality threshold than other works: protection depends on whether the object reflects free and creative choices that express the author’s personality. Choices dictated by technical function, ergonomics, safety requirements or industry standards do not, by themselves, qualify as protected expression. The CJEU did not decide that the USM Haller system is ultimately protected; that factual assessment remains for the German court.
The judgment shifts attention away from reputation, artistic prestige or visual appeal and back to the specific creative expression claimed. Evidence such as the designer’s intention, sources of inspiration, earlier forms, independent similar creations, museum recognition or professional acclaim may assist the analysis, but none is decisive. Infringement likewise cannot rest only on an overall visual impression; the court must identify whether protected creative elements have been reproduced in a recognisable form. For furniture and industrial-product businesses, the practical lesson is to document precisely which shapes, proportions, combinations or structural arrangements resulted from genuine creative freedom, while separating those features from elements required by function.
