On 18 November 2024, Regulation (EU) 2024/2822 amending Council Regulation No 6/2002 on Community designs and repealing Commission Regulation No 2246/2002 and Directive (EU) 2024/2823 on the legal protection of designs were published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
The Regulation enters into force on the 20th day following publication and will apply four months later.
The Directive also formally enters into force 20 days after publication. EU member states have 36 months from that date to implement it in their national legislation.
Wide-ranging reforms for EU designs
The legislation is the culmination of many years of discussions on reforming the EU design regime. The reforms aim to update the current legislation to improve protection for designs in age of digital designs and 3D printing.
Once they come into effect, we will have to get used to referring to European Union designs (EUDs) rather than registered Community designs (RCDs). Holders of EUDs will also be able to use a new symbol, a D in a circle, to mark their products.
The most significant substantive change is the introduction of the so-called repair clause, which (following a transitional period) exempts from design protection spare parts used for repair of complex products. This will be of particular relevance to industries (such as automotive) where spare parts are commonly sold.
Another notable change is the updating of the definition of “design” to encompass “the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features, in particular the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials, of the product itself and/or of its decoration, including the movement, transition or any other sort of animation of those features”. The addition of “movement, transition or … animation” aims to allow for the protection of digital designs.
The definition of “product” has been similarly expanded to include “graphic works or symbols, logos, surface patterns, typographic typefaces, and graphical user interfaces” though computer programs are excluded.
To enable design holders to enforce their rights against 3D-printed infringements, the new legislation clarifies that “creating, downloading, copying and sharing or distributing to others any medium or software which records the design for the purpose of enabling a product” are prohibited.
There are also changes to some procedures and fees.
What does this mean?
While the publication of the new legislation is a very important step, these changes do not all come into effect immediately. Some will require secondary legislation and changes at EUIPO and national offices which will be announced soon. For more detail on the impact of the reform, please contact us and/or look out for articles, webinars etc from EUIPO in the next few months.
In the long term, these reforms may lead to greater divergence between the EU and UK following Brexit. The UK IPO held a consultation on the designs framework in 2022 and the government published a response in July 2022. However, no reforms have yet been proposed to the design regime in the UK.
To find out more about the issues raised in this blog contact Rosie Burbidge.