In February of this year the Swiss Federal Administrative Court held, in Case B-6050/2007, that the shape of the Panton chair could be registered as a trade mark. The shape of the Panton chair, created by Danish designer Verner Panton in 1967, was the subject of a trade mark application in respect of goods in Class 20 (furniture etc).

The Federal Institute of Intellectual Property initially rejected the application, but the Swiss Federal Administrative Court reversed its decision. As to distinctiveness the court found that the chair's shape differed from customary or expected shapes and was thus distinctive. Also, while chairs are functional objects, the shape in question could not be said to be entirely derived from its function.

This decision is now under appeal to the Swiss Federal Court
Source: Peter Heinrich (Staiger Sch....




"A less successful experiment is preferable to a beautiful platitude." (Verner Panton)

With his visionary, colorful home furnishings, Panton sought ways to fashion a stylistically uniform, imaginative interior. He created his own unique design universe, where his uncompromising exploration of form, color and light resulted in a number of timeless products.

Panton was the first in the world to create a form-moulded chair in plastics without any joints. His plastic Panton chair, a one-piece cantilevered design made in candy-apple colors, has been in production continuously since 1967, and its sinuous shape became synonymous with 1960's pop culture. It is not only the most important and the most famous of Verner Panton's works, but without doubt one of the most significant chair designs of the 20th century.