Design Protection in the European Union

Within the last three years there have been important changes to design law in the European Union. As a result, it is now substantially cheaper to establish protection for designs across the European Union and a broader range of designs can be protected.

As part of these changes, a new registered Community design right has been introduced. This means that, for the first time, it is possible to obtain a single, cost-effective registered design right covering all twenty-five EU member states. (For a list of the member states, please click here).

A new unregistered Community design right has also come into force. This is also a single right covering the whole of the European Union. It arises automatically and applies to the same type of designs that can be protected by registered Community designs. However, it provides more limited protection in that (1) it only affords protection against copies of a design, not designs created independently, without copying, (2) it can be more difficult and expensive to enforce and (3) it lasts for a shorter length of time.

As well as the new EU-wide rights, member states still have their own national protection for designs. In the UK, relevant national rights include UK registered designs and two unregistered rights, UK design right and copyright.

In practice, national registered and unregistered rights can coexist with registered and unregistered Community rights, and so a design may be protected by a number of different rights. We can advise on which rights will be relevant to a particular product or design.

In the following sections, we provide some introductory information about registered Community designs and, as UK registered design law has been harmonised with Community design law, discuss key differences between registered UK and Community designs. We also briefly discuss registered design protection outsided the EU, unregistered Community designs, UK design right and artistic copyright.