Guide to Community Designs

The aims of the CIPA Guide to Community Designs are:

• to provide a brief insight into the protection of designs under the European Community Design Regulation.
• to provide a summary of the rights provided automatically by the Regulation
• to provide a brief discussion of the Registered Community Design and to outline the steps needed to obtain a registration.

This Guide is restricted to design protection under the Regulation. For information about design protection in general, including Registered Designs, Unregistered Design Right and Copyright in the UK, see the CIPA Guide to Design Protection.

This Guide does NOT attempt to provide a comprehensive explanation of design legislation nor seek to cover the many factors involved. Design protection is a complex area of law and it is advised that competent professional assistance is sought for each situation.

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What is the Regulation?

The European Community Design Regulation is part of the drive to establish a true single market in the European Union (EU) by providing a system for obtaining uniform protection for designs with uniform effect throughout the entire territory of the EU. It is the designs equivalent of the Community Trade Mark. The Regulation does not affect existing national design protection systems which co-exist side-by-side with the system provided by the Regulation. However, the earlier EU Designs Directive required all member states to harmonise their laws with the result that national systems of design registration should eventually broadly conform to the EU system.

What does it provide?

The Regulation provides for two types of design protection. It provides automatic, but limited, short-term protection (for 3 years from first publication in the EU) under the so-called Unregistered Community Design. In addition, it provides for long-term protection by means of the Registered Community Design. By obtaining such a registration the design may be protected for up to 25 years.

Which countries are covered?

The Regulation applies to all of the EU. That is, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Within a few years it is expected that this will extend into Eastern Europe.

What can be protected?

The Regulation defines this as the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation. The Regulation goes on to define a "product" as meaning any industrial or handicraft item, including parts of a more complex product, packaging, get-up, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces.

Is protection limited to one product?

No. It is the design that is protected.

What are the requirements?

To be protected by Registered or Unregistered Design Right, a design must be "novel" and have "individual character". For a design to be novel, its features must differ by more than "immaterial details" from known designs. To have individual character, the design must produce an overall impression on the informed user which is different from the overall impression made by known designs. The definition of a "known design" excludes designs that would not normally be known in the relevant business sector in the EU.