New case law – regarding whether a dispute concerning intellectual property rights constituted a labour dispute

A dispute concerning compensation in the form of royalties to the designer of the Snöbollen candle holder is a labour dispute.

The Labour Court has found that the designer was employed by a glassworks in the 1970s when she designed Snöbollen. It is undisputed that the glassworks’ operations, in which Snöbollen was designed, were transferred to Orrefors Kosta Boda through several company transfers until 1990. The designer applied to the district court for a summons with a claim for royalties against Orrefors Kosta Boda, with which she is not and has not been employed. The district court dismissed the claim with reference to an arbitration clause.

The Labour Court has found that the dispute is not a labour dispute. This means that neither the Labour Court nor the district court has jurisdiction. As the plaintiff did not request that the case be referred to the Patent and Market Court, the Labour Court did not consider the provision in Chapter 2, Section 7, second paragraph of the Labour Disputes Act on referral to the Court of Appeal to be applicable in this situation. The appeal has therefore been dismissed, which means that the district court’s dismissal decision stands.

Read more here (in Swedish).