The design framework in the EU has been updated and is now up to date.
Yesterday, the Council of the European Union adopted two new legislative acts on design protection, which aim to update and adapt the existing legislation (which is now more than 20 years old…) to current circumstances.
With the awaited adoption of the Directive and the Regulation, on the one hand, the design procedures of the member states will be harmonized with the European system, and, on the other hand, the protection of designs will be improved.
The most relevant new measures include the so-called ‘Repair Clause’, which limits the protection of repair parts for complex products in favour of end users; the focus on digital designs and 3D printing; inter alia.
Both the Directive and the Regulation will enter into force 20 days after their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
The Regulation will be directly applicable after four months. While Member States have 36 months to adopt the necessary measures to transpose the Directive. Changes to national legislation are therefore on the horizon.
Laura Conde
Lawyer
