Hi everyone,

 
As you all know, we are currently fighting for the freedom of producing handpans in any shape in proceedings against PANArt in Berne, Switzerland. Much has already been written about this, although not everything that has been said is entirely accurate. We would therefore like to provide you with an update on the proceedings, which are now moving forward again:


As you know, various handpan makers and sellers have filed a lawsuit against PANArt after we received several warning letters based on alleged copyright claims demanding that we cease the manufacture and/or sale of handpans. We therefore filed a lawsuit seeking a declaration that there is no copyright in the “hang” and that, even if there were one, our instruments do not fall within its scope of protection and therefore do not infringe it. At the beginning of the proceedings several years ago, the court divided the case into two parts: First, it would only deal with the question of whether there is a copyright in the “hang.” If it were to affirm this in an interim ruling, the proceedings would continue with regard to the infringement issues.


In the first instance and with regard to the first question, i.e., the existence of copyright, the Commercial Court of Bern unfortunately issued a ruling on July 2, 2024, affirming the existence of copyright in the “Hang.” Some of the plaintiffs appealed this decision to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, the highest court in Switzerland. Due to the procedural division into two questions – the existence of copyright on the one hand and the infringement of possible copyright on the other – the Swiss Federal Supreme Court dismissed our appeal. The Swiss Federal Supreme Court ruled that the partial decision on the existence of copyright could only be challenged with the final decision on the question of infringement. It has therefore not yet been legally decided that PANArt actually has copyright in the “Hang.”. The proceedings are still pending and we will be able to challenge the first instance decision which confirmed copyright later in the proceedings. This is good news for us, especially since renowned courts in the EU, such as the Federal Court of Justice in Germany, are tending to set narrower limits on copyright nowadays. By way of example, the German Federal Court of Justice recently denied copyright protection for “Birkenstock” sandals.

 
The proceedings are thus now continuing and we are once again (or rather still) in the first instance before the Commercial Court of Bern: The question that the Court of Bern will review now is whether the individual instruments that are subject of the lawsuit infringe a possible copyright of the “Hang.” We can therefore still achieve a great deal here: Should a copyright on the “Hang” exist, we believe that its scope of protection can basically only cover identical copies. But this would leave us room to continue building the instruments we love so much – as long as they do not fall within the (as we believe limited) scope of protection. In addition, the court could possibly give us some indication of what would have to be fulfilled in order to fall outside the (again in our opinion narrow) scope of protection of the “Hang.”

 
An oral hearing will take place in early 2026, which we will of course prepare thoroughly. As a next step, we have until September 25, 2025, to submit our next brief to the court, to which PANArt can then respond by November 20, 2025.

 
We will soon reach out to handpan makers and resellers, as well as handpan players and enthusiasts. As we urgently need financial support now to stay represented by our lawyers till the end of the proceedings. Until then, any donation to the still open crowdfunding is very welcome. 
You can still do that here. Or make a direct contribution:

Stichting Handpan Community United
IBAN: NL62BUNQ2049174195

Bank name: Bunq B.V.

BIC/SWIFT: BUNQNL2AXXX

Sincerely,
The HCU admin team