In 1972, while platform shoes, waistlines, and the first recorded Pong scores were high, a young boy in Norway was feeling, literally, pretty low. Thor had outgrown his high chair, and conventional furniture left him struggling for a place in the adult world, particularly at the family dining table. Luckily his father was Peter Opsvik, an industrial designer who has made a career of rethinking sitting and believes that children and adults should interact at the same level. Activated by his own son’s situation and aware of a universal need, Opsvik designed the Tripp Trapp chair, an innovative and completely adjustable high chair that can be used at any age. Today over seven million Tripp Trapps have been sold. Here at MoMA, visitors to the Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900–2000 exhibition will encounter a “Maxi” version of the design, made to provide adults with the point of view of a three-year-old. This interactive introduction to the exhibition facilitates an important perspective shift.
It’s also really fun. In the video above, Opsvik and I give the “Maxi” set a go; as with many other examples from Century of the Child, this design success is not just about scale, but about empathy. Century of the Child is on view in MoMA’s sixth-floor Special Exhibition Gallery through November 5. Century of the Child: Growing By Design 1900–2000, Supreme Court rules on chair copyright The Tripp Trapp children's chair (seen in the left-hand image below) was designed in the early 1970s. It is designed to be adjusted as children grow by moving the seat and the footrest up and down. The technical principle behind this was patented in 1972. The chair became popular both in and outside Norway. Manufacturer Stokke AS, together with designer Per Opsvik, has been waging war against similar chairs in numerous jurisdictions since the patent expired in 1992, claiming infringement of Opsvik's copyright. The Oliver chair (on the right in the image above) was marketed by Trumf AS from 2007;
Stokke and Opsvik filed a legal complaint against it in 2009. The district court ruled in favour of Trumf, holding that the Tripp Trapp chair did not meet the artistic step criterion set out in the Copyright Act. However, the appeal court found that the Tripp Trapp chair did enjoy copyright protection as a work of art (or rather, of craft), and that the Oliver chair infringed the copyright in the Tripp Trapp chair. The Supreme Court agreed that the Tripp Trapp chair was protected under the Copyright Act and found this conclusion to be "doubtless" even if the artistic step criterion should be "relatively strict" for utility articles. Therefore, the question was whether the Oliver chair constituted an infringement of these rights. Trumf had argued that the curved side pieces of its chair were sufficiently different to distinguish it from the Tripp Trapp chair, but the Supreme Court dismissed this argument. The court agreed with the findings of the appeal court to the effect that Oliver chair was not an independent work of art (or craft).
Moreover, the Tripp Trapp chair's combination of new, innovative elements and other known elements was also present to a high degree in the Oliver chair, leaving a very similar impression - not the least in view of the wide variety of available alternative shapes. The decision is the first of its kind since 1962, when the Supreme Court held that a sewing table was too crude and inexpensive to constitute infringement of an elegantly designed similar table. In the case at hand, neither chair was more or less elegant than the other, and what was copied appeared to be the technical solution of the adjustable seat and footrest and the L-shaped side pieces. Therefore, the decision is worrying as it means that a design which was originally patented until 1992 may now remain protected for 70 years after Opsvik's death. A design registration would also have expired a long time ago, leaving competitors free to market similar chairs. Thus, it may be that a form of protection originally intended for works of art is poorly suited to the protection of utility articles.
For further information on this topic please contact Steinar Lie at Bryn Aarflot AS by telephone (+47 92 83 16 19), fax (+47 22 00 31 31) or email (sl@baa.no). The materials contained on this website are for general information purposes only and are subject to the disclaimer. ILO is a premium online legal update service for major companies and law firms worldwide. In-house corporate counsel and other users of legal services, as well as law firm partners, qualify for a free subscription.High Chairs & Booster Seats F is for Feeding Boosters & Hook On Seats See All High Chairs & Booster Seats ALL OPTIONS FOR BrandToys”R”Us, Babies”R”Us are registered trademarks of Toys”R”Us (Canada) Ltd. Use of this site signifies your acceptance of Toys"R"Us Website Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.We’re going on an adventure! Whether exploring a corner of our own city or taking on an undiscovered town, seeing the world with a little one is both exhilarating and exhausting.
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