Lee & Schwerbrock
German Law Firm
German Law Firm |
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Community Design Design A design is the outward appearance of a product or part of it, resulting from the
lines, contours, colors, shape, texture, materials and/or its ornamentation. Designs may be protected as Registered
Community Design, effective within all EU member states, if they are (a) novel, that is if no identical design has been made available to the public; (b)
they have individual character, which means the "informed user" would find it different
from other designs which are available to the public. Effective
Area Upon
registration, a Community Design will be effective within all EU member states. In case any new
members join the EU, the effective area of a Community Design will extend to
such new member states accordingly. Protection Right holder of a
Community Design owns the exclusive proprietary right on the design, is
entitled to prohibit any third party from using, producing, offering for sale,
selling, or importing products incorporating such design or having similar
appearance within EU member states. A registered
Community Design is valid for 5 year, which term can be extended 4 times and
each extension shall be 5 years; as maximum, a Community Design can remain
effective for 25 years. Application
and Examination Procedure It is allowed to
register several designs under identical product category with one application. In such case, up
from the second design, favorable application and publication official fees
will apply. This is advantageous for applicants who apply for more than
one design in an application. However, designs falling within different product
categories shall be applied separately. Community Design is subject to formality review and the
competent authority will not proceed with substantive examination. That means, as long as the application appears in conformation with relevant regulation, the competent authority will register the design, regardless of
whether it is novel or whether it is identical to prior registered Community
Design. If any third party considers any registered
Community Designs not meeting the protection requirements, for example, lack of novelty, an invalidity procedure can be
initiated to invalidate such designs.
Due to the formality
review system, a design applied for registration will normally be approved and
registered, within a short period of time around 3 months. However, although being easily registered, a
Community Design may be cancelled after its registration if a third party applies for invalidation. Postponement
of publication As mentioned
above, the Community Design registration can be completed within around 3
months. This means, the registered
design will be published and disclosed to the public after such short period of
time, which, in some case, may be disadvantageous for the marketing of products
incorporating such design. In such event, the applicant may apply for postponement of the registration
publication for a maximum of 30
months starting from the application or priority date. Strategic
thinking Community Design has the following pros:
It is
worthwhile to obtain such EU-wide protection before marketing and selling
products in
Lee
& Schwerbrock provides services for Community Design application and
related proceedings, please contact
us for further details.
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