EU Design Legislation Reform

On Dec. 18 2024, the EU design regulation and Directive entered in force, which represents a significant modernization of the design protection framework, aligning it with current technologies and economic realities.

Some amendments of the legislation will apply from 1 May 2025, while other amendments, including those brought about by the secondary legislation will apply from July 1, 2026. Member states will have 36 months to transpose it into their national laws.

We highlight some key legislative changes that affect the design holders, outline the revised fee structure and compare it with the old fee schedule.

●  Terminology

The terminology of the Amending Regulation is adapted to the wording of the Lisbon Treaty, with all references to the “Community” being substituted by references to the “European Union” or in some instances, the “Union”.

The Community Design Regulation will therefore become the European Union Design Regulation (EUDR).

Existing Community design applications and Community designs will automatically become European Union design applications and European Union designs (EU designs).
Likewise, Community design courts will be named as EU design courts.

●  Multiple applications

The requirement of unity-of-class is removed, and multiple applications can contain designs in different classes with a single condition regarding the maximum number of designs allowed, which will now be limited to 50.

●  Renewal 

The basic renewal period will now be the six-month period ending on the date of expiry of the registration, not on the last day of the month on which protection ends, and the grace renewal period (where a surcharge is applicable) will start the day after the date of expiry and will end six months after said date.

●  Design Notice

To raise awareness about the design registration regime and to facilitate the marketing of products protected by design registration, design holders (or third parties having their consent) will be able to display a design notice on their products, consisting of a letter ‘D’ enclosed within a circle (Ⓓ).

●  Rights conferred

The article lists new infringing uses of a design, consisting of: (i) creating, (ii) downloading, (iii) copying and (iv) sharing or distributing to others any medium or software that records the design, which are particularly relevant in the context of 3D printing.

●  Changes in fee structure and fee levels

The below table summarize the changes in fee structure and the amounts.

The new regulatory scheme envisages the unification of the registration and publication fees into one single application fee. For multiple applications, a flat fee per additional design is introduced thus eliminating bulk discounts based on the number of designs in a multiple application, which means the second discount bracket concerning the 11th design onwards is removed. Also, fees for renewal have increased significantly, particularly in the 3rd and 4th renewal periods.
 

Original link: https://www.euipo.europa.eu/en/designs/design-reform-hub