Ilumi v. Legrand Brasil: Socket & Switch Patent Appeal Partially Granted
Ilumi Indústria e Comércio Ltda appealed against Legrand Brasil Ltda. (formerly GI Eletroeletrônicos) over Brazilian utility model BRMU1310424U2, which protects a constructive arrangement applied to a set of sockets and switches. The Court of Justice of São Paulo issued a partial grant of the appeal, splitting the outcome between the two parties.
Brazilian utility model dispute over socket-switch assembly design
Ilumi Indústria e Comércio Ltda brought proceedings against Legrand Brasil Ltda. — currently denominated GI Eletroeletrônicos Ltda. — before the Court of Justice of São Paulo, asserting Brazilian utility model BRMU1310424U2. The patent in suit covers a constructive arrangement applied to a set of sockets and switches, a product category central to the residential and commercial electrical installation market in Brazil.
The appeal was closed on 2 October 2025 with the court issuing a partial grant. A partial grant at the appellate level in Brazilian civil procedure typically means the panel accepted some but not all of the appellant’s arguments, modifying the lower court decision in a limited respect while leaving other portions of the original ruling intact. Neither side can claim an unqualified victory.
Because the filing date is not recorded in the publicly available docket, the full duration of the dispute cannot be calculated. The partial outcome suggests the legal and technical questions were genuinely contested; what specific relief was granted or denied, and on which claims, is not disclosed in the public record. The amended company name of the defendant — Legrand Brasil/GI Eletroeletrônicos — may itself reflect a corporate restructuring that could have procedural significance not visible from the case summary alone.
Filing to Appeal Granted In Part in 0 days
Case closed 2 October 2025; filing date not recorded in public docket
Appeal partially granted: what the split ruling means for both parties
Partial appellate grant splits the outcome
A partial grant (‘provimento parcial’) in the São Paulo Court of Justice means the appellate panel agreed with the appellant on at least one ground but rejected others. The lower court judgment is modified rather than replaced wholesale. The precise scope of the modification — which claims, which relief, which quantum — requires access to the full acórdão, which is not reproduced in the publicly available case summary.
Acórdão — partial modificationIlumi secures partial relief but not full vindication
As appellant, Ilumi obtained at least partial success before the Court of Justice of São Paulo. This suggests the utility model BRMU1310424U2 was not wholly dismissed as a basis for relief, and that some element of Ilumi’s infringement or validity argument found favour with the panel. However, the partial nature of the grant means Ilumi’s full claim — whether for injunction, damages, or both — was not accepted in its entirety.
Partial win for patent holderLegrand Brasil avoids a total adverse ruling
Legrand Brasil (GI Eletroeletrônicos) successfully resisted at least part of Ilumi’s appeal, meaning the lower court’s original decision was not fully overturned against it. Depending on the scope of relief granted, Legrand may still face constraints on its socket and switch product line derived from BRMU1310424U2. The partial outcome leaves residual commercial uncertainty that typically requires further legal review to manage.
Partial defence maintainedSplit verdict keeps utility model risk alive for the sector
A partial appellate grant on a utility model covering socket and switch assembly constructive arrangements signals that Brazilian courts are willing to enforce such rights, even if not unconditionally. Competitors in the Brazilian electrical installation components market — particularly those producing socket-switch modular assemblies — should treat BRMU1310424U2 as an active enforcement risk until the full terms of the acórdão are confirmed.
Ongoing enforcement riskFull party and counsel information
| Role | Name | Type | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plaintiff | Ilumi Industria and Comercio Ltda | Individual | Electrical products manufacturer — holder of BRMU1310424U2Search in Eureka ↗ |
| Defendant | Legrand Brasil Ltda. (Atual Denominação de Gi Eletroeletrônicos Ltda.) | Individual | Legrand Brasil Ltda. (formerly GI Eletroeletrônicos), electrical installation product distributorSearch in Eureka ↗ |
| Presiding judge | Judge N/A | Judge | Court of Justice of Sao PauloSearch in Eureka ↗ |
Official order — verbatim text
The panel’s formulation — ‘PARTIAL GRANTING of the appeal’ — is characteristic of Brazilian appellate decisions that accept the appellant’s position on discrete grounds while rejecting others, resulting in a modified rather than reversed first-instance judgment. The verdict does not disclose which specific claims of BRMU1310424U2 were sustained, what injunctive scope was ordered, or whether a damages recalculation was remanded. For practitioners, this phrasing typically means the underlying right was at least partially recognised but that the original relief sought was trimmed on one or more grounds.
BRMU1310424U2 — constructive arrangement for socket and switch sets
BRMU1310424U2 is a Brazilian utility model patent — designated by the ‘MU’ prefix in INPI’s classification system — covering a constructive arrangement applied to a set of sockets and switches. Utility models in Brazil protect functional form improvements to existing products and carry a 15-year term from filing. The constructive arrangement claim type typically protects the physical configuration and assembly logic of a device rather than a novel underlying principle, making geometric and structural similarity to the patented assembly the key infringement consideration.
In the Brazilian residential and commercial electrical installation market, socket and switch modular assemblies are a high-volume commodity segment competed by multiple domestic and multinational suppliers. A utility model covering a specific constructive arrangement in this category can create meaningful design-around pressure for competitors whose products share structural features with the protected assembly. The fact that Legrand Brasil — a subsidiary of a global electrical infrastructure group — was named as defendant suggests this patent touches commercially significant product lines rather than niche components.
Should you run an FTO against BRMU1310424U2?
Any manufacturer, importer, or distributor of modular socket and switch assemblies for the Brazilian market should assess freedom-to-operate against BRMU1310424U2. The partial appellate grant confirms this utility model is actively enforced and has survived at least partial judicial scrutiny. R&D teams designing new or updated socket-switch combinations, and procurement teams sourcing such assemblies, face non-trivial infringement risk if their products share the constructive arrangement features described in the patent.
PatSnap Eureka’s FTO Search Agent can map the claim landscape of BRMU1310424U2 against your product drawings, flag structural overlap, and surface related Brazilian utility models in the same technical class. Because the full acórdão scope is not yet public, a conservative claim-broadest reading is recommended until the judgment text is confirmed. Eureka can also monitor INPI prosecution records and related enforcement activity to alert your team to any post-judgment developments.
Run a freedom-to-operate analysis on BRMU1310424U2 to assess your product’s exposure
Run FTO in Eureka →Similar Brazilian utility model cases — electrical assembly disputes
Cases involving Brazilian utility model enforcement for electrical installation components before the São Paulo Court of Justice, including socket, switch, and modular assembly patents asserted by domestic manufacturers.
What this case signals for the Brazilian electrical components IP landscape
A partial appellate win on a utility model covering socket and switch assemblies illustrates that Brazilian IP enforcement in electrical installation products remains active and contested.
Brazilian utility models carry real enforcement weight
BRMU1310424U2 is a utility model — a lower-threshold IP right in Brazil that nonetheless supports injunctive and damages claims before state courts. This case confirms that even assembly-level ‘constructive arrangements’ can sustain appellate litigation and result in at least partial judicial relief for the rights holder.
Corporate name changes can complicate defendant identification
The defendant is recorded under two names — Legrand Brasil Ltda. and GI Eletroeletrônicos Ltda. — reflecting a corporate restructuring during or before the proceedings. IP professionals monitoring enforcement exposure in the Brazilian electrical market should track both entity names when screening litigation records.
Ltda v Legrand — key questions answered
The Court of Justice of São Paulo issued a partial grant of the appeal on 2 October 2025. Ilumi Indústria e Comércio Ltda, as appellant, obtained relief on at least some grounds but not all. The precise scope of the partial grant is not disclosed in the public case summary.
Ilumi asserted Brazilian utility model BRMU1310424U2, which covers a constructive arrangement applied to a set of sockets and switches. Utility models in Brazil are granted by INPI and protect functional form improvements, with a maximum term of 15 years from the filing date.
In Brazilian appellate practice, ‘provimento parcial’ (partial grant) means the appellate panel accepted the appellant’s arguments on one or more grounds while rejecting others. The lower court judgment is modified in limited respects rather than fully reversed. It does not constitute a complete win for either party, and in some instances results in a remand for damages recalculation.
The defendant is recorded as ‘Legrand Brasil Ltda. (Atual Denominação de GI Eletroeletrônicos Ltda.)’, indicating that GI Eletroeletrônicos Ltda. was renamed Legrand Brasil Ltda. at some point before or during the proceedings. Both names refer to the same legal entity. Practitioners monitoring enforcement exposure should track both names in litigation and corporate databases.
This case suggests BRMU1310424U2 is an actively enforced utility model that has secured at least partial appellate relief. Manufacturers, importers, and distributors of modular socket and switch assemblies for the Brazilian market should consider a freedom-to-operate review against this patent, particularly given that the full scope of the partial grant has not been publicly disclosed.
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