General Information | Filing Procedures | Remarks | More

General Information

Available to Non-Community as well as Community creators, the protection resulting from the Community design is in force since March 6, 2002 for unregistered community designs, whereas the first applications for registered community designs are accepted since April 1, 2003. The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), based in Alicante, Spain, handles the registering of designs.

In parallel to the already recognized Community Trademark (CTM) system, the Community Design establishes a unitary and autonomous protection for designs on the whole European Union territory. Protection extends to the following 25 Member States of the European Union (EU): Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Main Legal Basis

• Council Regulation (EC) No. 6/2002 of December 12, 2001, on Community Designs.
• Council Decision 1999/468/EC of June 28, 1999, laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission.
• Directive 98/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of October 13, 1998, on the legal protection of designs.
• Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 of December 20, 1993, on the Community Trademark.

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Filing Procedure

Filing requirements

Besides the usual requisites i.e., identification of the applicant and a representation of the design, an application for a registered Community design must contain an indication of the products in which the design is intended to be incorporated or to which it is intended to be applied.
Interestingly, several designs may be combined in one multiple application.
Where to file: As for CTM, the registered Community design is examined and registered by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM). The application can be filed, either directly at the Office or at the central Industrial Property Office of a Member State.
Official languages: Applications must be filed in one of the official languages of the Community. The applicant will also indicate a second language, which shall be a language of the Office: English, French, German, Italian or Spanish. All proceedings at the OHIM will therefore be conducted in one of those languages.

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Remarks

Classification: International Classification of Locarno.
Duration and renewal: An unregistered Community design shall be protected for a period of three years as from the date the design was first been made available to the public within the Community. A registered design shall enjoy protection for a period of five years as from the date of filing. This term can be extended to four subsequent five-year periods (25 years maximum).
Opposition: Declaration of invalidity possible before the Office and the Courts depending whether the Community Design is registered or not.

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More

If you wish more detailed information concerning intellectual property protection in this territory please contact us or order Katzarov’s Manual on Industrial Property®.

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