Post by Dr. Henning Hartwig

⬇️ From past to present: 1️⃣ The Battle of Cannae, a key theatre of the Second Punic War between the Roman Republic and Carthage fought in 216 BCE, is said to be the first battle where one army (here: the Roman army) was surrounded and eventually defeated if not extinguished by another army (here: the Carthaginians and their allies) using a “double envelopment“ or “pincer movement” tactic. 2️⃣ In the year 50 BCE, a small village of indomitable Gauls held out against the Romans, making life not easy for the legionaries in their fortified camps surrounding the village. At that time, it seems, however, that the concept of the “pincer manoeuvre” had not yet developed to full maturity (see ”The Battle of the Village”) … 3️⃣ In 1985, D.W.F. Verkade introduced the concept of the ”pincer effect”, noting that the same criterion of “subordinate differences” was used for assessing validity and scope of protection under the Benelux Designs and Models Act (Bescherming van het uiterlijk van produkten, Kluwer 1985). 4️⃣ In his homage of 2008, the unbeatable Professor Dirk Visser endorsed Verkade’s ”pincer effect” as being equally applicable, under the new Benelux and European design law, in view of the criterion “overall impression” used for assessing both validity and infringement (De ‘tangwerking’ in het modellenrecht, Bijblad Bij De Industriële Eigendom 2008 No. 4/5, 213-219) 5️⃣ In 2026, two fearless design law aficionados from Belgium and Germany were happy and relieved to see that their paper ”A critical analysis of the Benelux ‘pincer effect‘ in light of modern EU design law and the concept of reciprocity” eventually appeared in Oxford University Press’ esteemed Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (Oxford University Press) online on advance access (https://lnkd.in/eKbiWfjJ). Thank you, dear Véronique Pede—this was a fantastic journey through time! Most grateful also to Jozefien Vanherpe for various extremely valuable comments on an earlier draft of this paper and Burga Lenz for carefully proofreading and improving later versions! (c) DARGAUD EDITEUR 1970 GOSCINNY/UDERZO https://lnkd.in/eSQYW_Gj