Agfa loses major claims of leather printing patent to Gucci at UPC Court of Appeal

WISECODE Take

The UPC Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Gucci in case UPC_CoA_582/2025, revoking most claims of Agfa's leather printing patent EP 3 388 490. Many assume unwritten manufacturing processes remain secret, but the court held that any method reproducible by analyzing a market product loses novelty. Presided over by Court President Klaus Grabinski, the panel considered Gucci's Flora wallet sold before April 2017. Under Article 54(2) EPC, the court ruled that skilled persons could analyze base coat compositions without undue burden, making the publicly sold product prior art. This confirms that relying on public goods while keeping processes confidential fails as a patent strategy in Europe. Businesses whose products cannot be reverse-engineered remain unaffected. IP Knowledge offers patent portfolio checkups to clarify boundaries before launch. Companies should take two actions. First, assess reverse-engineering risks before releasing samples. Second, if a process can be analyzed from the product, protect it as a trade secret rather than filing a patent. The analytical reverse-engineering of commercial goods is a sharp weapon often overlooked in patent defense.