Secto Design has fully won a very long lasting and troublesome intellectual property infringement case against an Austrian lighting manufacturer EGLO. EGLO had copied the models Kontro and Owalo in 2014 but removed the infringing models from their collection as a settlement after negotiations. The story didn't end there, as EGLO came up with some more replicas in 2017 and so began a new legal battle where Secto pendant was the center point. Funnily enough EGLO was the one suing Secto Design aiming at abolishing the copyright of the Secto pendant.

However, Secto Design fully won the first insistence against EGLO in the Regional Court of Innsbruck in 2018 but EGLO then filed an appeal and the process continued. At the beginning of January the Higher Regional Court of Innsbruck stated that Secto 4200 works according to the originality standard of Austrian copyright law and is therefore a copyrighted work. The court also considered the overall impression of EGLO’s lamps' design too similar to the Secto lamps' design, even if the opponent was trying to argue with small details they felt were differentiating their lamps from the originals, such as wider gaps between the slats. The court stated that the Secto lamps have original characteristics and didn’t believe that independent creation ever took place at EGLO’s end.

EGLO has to publish the holding of decision on the landing page for a period of two weeks. They have also been ordered to reimburse the costs of the appeal proceedings."

"Pictured above the infringing Atenza pendant by EGLO next to the original Secto pendant by Secto Design. Destroyed replica lamps from another won case in Norway last year at the back.