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“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works – Steve Jobs”
The European Union Design Registration system offers a robust framework for protecting the aesthetic aspects of products, ensuring that designers and businesses can safeguard their creative innovations across all EU member states. A single design registration with any national patent EU patent office provides design protection in the 27 member countries for 25 years.
We at Wissen Research offer comprehensive design patent search services to help you uncover whether your product’s aesthetic is truly unique and free from existing patents. We identify potential infringement risks and offer in-depth insights into the design landscape, ensuring your innovations are well-protected. Get in touch with our subject matter expert and request your design patent search today!
EU design registration allows creators to obtain exclusive design rights, preventing unauthorized copying and imitation. The convenience of registering designs through a single application for all EU countries means businesses can streamline their processes and reduce administrative burdens. The registration process is characterized by specific requirements, including the need for the design to be new and possess individual character. This post will discuss different aspects of the EU design registration, such as validity terms, terms.
Validity Term of Registered and Unregistered Design Registration in European Union (EU)
A Registered Community Design (RCD) in the European Union is valid for an initial period of 5 years from the filing date. This registration can be renewed for additional 5-year periods, up to a maximum total duration of 25 years. Here are the key points regarding the validity of design registration in the EU:
Initial Validity: The RCD is valid for 5 years from the filing date.
Renewal: The design can be renewed four times, allowing for a total protection period of up to 25 years.
Unregistered Designs: In contrast, unregistered designs in the EU are protected for 3 years from the date of first public disclosure.
Geographical Coverage: Provides protection across all 27 EU member states, ensuring uniform protection under a single legal framework.
Benefits of Design Registration in the European Union (EU)
One design registration for 27 member countries
Filing design registration with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) is valid in 27 EU countries. The application can be filed in any of the 24 EU languages. However, the second language must be the official EUIPO language, i.e., English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish. The applicant must provide the official EUIPO language translation to the office within one month.
Safeguard from counterfeiting and rival designs in EU
With design registration in the EU, businesses can protect the product’s appearance, such as lines, colours, shape, texture, and materials. Thus preventing others from counterfeiting, using without consent, and legally enforcing their IP rights in the market, strengthening their position in the competitive EU market.
Relatively inexpensive
Design registration EU provides protection in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. With just a single registration fee, you can secure rights in 27 countries, making the process relatively inexpensive.
Exclusive rights
Design registration provides the owner exclusive product rights in 27 European countries to manufacture, sell, import, or export the design. Further, these provide owners with legal rights to take action against any unauthorized use.
Deferred design publication
With EU design registration, you can defer the publication of your design and keep it a secret for a maximum of 30 months. This gives businesses a strategic advantage, particularly the competitive ones where timing and confidentiality are critical for success.
Design Presentation Terms and Conditions
A design protects the appearance of either the whole product or a part of it that results from its features, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture, and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation. The design must be new and distinct from previous designs in its overall impression. Further, the design must also respect public policy and morality standards.
For Filing, EUIPO has set certain terms & conditions for acceptable design representation.
Design applications represent the same design in all views, i.e., the same colours or features are present in the design representation.
Design applications must represent the design in a neutral background, i.e., as empty as possible.
Design application must only provide the view and no text or symbols intrinsic to the design such as explanatory text, numbers, arrows, lines or symbols.
For an acceptable design application, make sure each image has only one view of the design and not two views of the same image.
In the design application, the magnified views must be uploaded as a separate image and not in the same image.
To exclude a part of the product you don’t want to register, ensure the design application showcases identical views. Illustrate using broken lines, blurring, or colour shading consistently in all views.
The acceptable design application must include a disassembled view of the products or articles forming a set and an assembled view of the parts or articles.
To protect the 2D design or surface pattern, the acceptable design application must provide a 2D ornamentation or surface pattern image, not the specific product’s image.
Role of European Union Trade Mark Regulation (EUTMR) in Design Registration
EUTMR stands for European Union Trade Mark Regulation. While the EUTMR primarily governs the registration and protection of EU trade marks, it also plays a role in the registration of Community designs.
Here are the key points about the EUTMR’s role in design registration:
EU design registration offers a robust framework highlighting its importance in fostering innovation and protecting designers’ rights in a competitive marketplace. Once registered, creators enjoy long-term protection of up to 25 years. We hope our post has answered a few questions about design registration in Europe and made you feel a tad wiser. For more information, you can connect with our subject matter expert today!