The Hang is a work of applied art. The decision of the Supreme Court of the Canton of Berne.

The Supreme Court of the Canton of Berne (Switzerland), on July 2, 2024 handed down the long awaited decision in the proceedings initiated by 25 manufacturers and dealers of handpans ("Claimants") in October 2020. The Court, in its thorough decision of 95 pages, held that the HANG, in all its versions, and as shown in the sketch below, is protected by copyright under Swiss law, under German law and under Dutch law.

This decision can be appealed to the Swiss Supreme Court. In a second step, the Bernese court will decide if the handpans manufactured and offered by the Claimants fall within the scope of protection of the HANG.

Given its quality and its reasoning, the attorneys of Sabina Schärer and Felix Rohner, are confident that this decision, if challenged by the Claimants, will be upheld by Swiss Supreme Court, and that Claimants' handpans will be considered infringing on their copyright on the HANG.

The ruling of the Bern Commercial Court of 2 July means that all legal or natural persons who produce and/or offer or sell unauthorised copies of the HANG in Switzerland or in the EU themselves or through third parties are infringing the copyright of PANArt Hangbau AG and that PANArt Hangbau AG is not only entitled to a civil law claim for prohibition and financial compensation, but that these persons may also be liable to prosecution. This also applies retroactively. Of course, this is subject to the proviso that the judgement is not yet legally binding.

Judgment of the Supreme Court of the Canton of Berne

Urteil Urheberrechtsschutz HANG - Obergericht des Kantons Bern 2024 (PDF 36.971 MB)
Judgement on copyright protection HANG - Supreme Court of the Canton of Berne 2024 (PDF 1.929 MB)

Statement by Sabina Schärer and Felix Rohner on the decision of the Bern High Court to grant copyright protection to the Hang.

"We were delighted to learn of the decision by the Bern High Court to grant copyright protection to the Hang. Anyone who takes the trouble to read this almost 100-page ruling will be amazed at its high quality. After the Canton of Bern awarded us the music prize for the Hang sculpture in 2021, we are now receiving protection for our Hang from the Bern High Court. We successfully defended our work against a large group of music dealers and plagiarists. We have always been aware of the dedication that has gone into this decades-long work in progress.
Based on the basic principle of steelpan sound production, we have shaped a new form that reflects our spirit and experience in simple beauty.
The Hang has traveled the world and has fallen into hands that have ignorantly thrown its shape onto the market. We defended ourselves against this, whereupon an association of dealers and plagiarists challenged us with a declaratory action before the Bern High Court.
With vigor, we showed the 25 plaintiffs that the principle of sound production on the steelpan can be used to create a wide variety of shapes,
that the hammer on the sheet metal can open up a great deal of creative freedom. We were supported by renowned experts from Trinidad and Germany.
It has now paid off to patiently await the work of the judge in this complex matter. His decision can serve as an impetus for the losing claimants and their steel sound sculptors to produce their own musical instruments that meet their needs."