A legislation package aiming to update laws on design protection in the European Union has been definitively approved and will start taking effect in spring 2025: from strengthened protection against digital copies to the new “repair clause”, here are the main points of interest for the system’s users.

On 10 October 2024 the revised version of the European Union’s directive and regulation on the protection of designs in the European Union received the definitive approval of the Council of the European Union.

In practice, Regulation No. 6/2002 on Community designs (Designs Regulation) and Directive No. 98/71 on the legal protection of designs are to undergo substantial changes.

The aim of the revision is to modernise the European Union’s design protection system, inaugurated 20 years ago, and bring it up to date with new technologies and realities – such as 3D printing, the “metaverse” and artificial intelligence – as well as to make design protection more attractive for small companies and align EU design and trademark legislation.

We have summarised the main changes of interest to the EU design system’s users are summarised below.

Protection includes designs featuring movement and 3D-printed designs

The definitions of “design” and “product” have been broadened to cover movement, transition and animation of features determining the appearance of a product: the new Article 3 of the Designs Regulation stipulates that ‘design’ means the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture, materials of the product itself and/or its decoration, including the movement, transition or any other sort of animation of those features.

Moreover, protection is no longer limited to physical objects: a product can be registered as a design regardless of whether it is embodied in a physical object or materialises in a physical form – think designs appearing only on screen/on virtual platforms.

Changes in filing rules

Rules on representation of a design in applications for registration have also been amended, allowing video files. Designs belonging to different classes of the International Classification for Industrial Designs under the Locarno Agreement are allowed in a single application; moreover, the limit has been raised on the number of views admissible in an application.

Visibility of features

Article 18a of the Designs Regulation has been added to provide for protection of features of the design that are not visible all the time (think of a product on which images or videos appear only when switched on): the design’s feature is protected if the application for registration represents such feature with sufficient clarity.

New “repair clause”

A new Article 20a of the Designs Regulation excludes from design protection a component part of a complex product, upon whose appearance the design of the component part is dependent and which is used (…)  for the sole purpose of the repair of that complex product so as to restore its original appearance.

Scope of protection extended

Article 19 of the Designs Regulation as amended makes it clear that creating, downloading, copying and sharing or distributing to others any medium or software which records the design for the purpose of making a product protected by a design can be considered design infringement. This rule is intended to apply also to 3D printing of copies of design-protected products.

Fees

Filing fees are unchanged for the first design, minor tweaks have been introduced for subsequent designs.

As for renewal fees, the first 5-year renewal is set at 150 Euros and increases gradually with each subsequent 5-year renewal up to 700 Euros for the fourth.

It should be noted that allowing designs belonging to different Locarno classes (see above) to be filed in a single application should maximize savings for multiple applications – as well as simplify the procedure.

Name and symbol

The Community Design is to be renamed European Union Design (to finally match the European Union Trademark), and the symbol to represent it will be a D in a circle, similar to the registered trademark’s ® and copyright’s ©.

Entry into force

The legislation amending the Designs Regulation and Directive No. 98/71 on the legal protection of designs will enter into force on the 20th day after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.

The new Regulation will take effect 4 months later. As for the new Directive, EU member states will have 36 months to implement its provision into national laws.

In practice, the new rules will take effect gradually over a period running from early 2025 to the end of 2027.

Further information

Do you have questions on protecting design in the European Union? Contact us, we are happy to help.