Application requirements
1. An application for registration of a design shall contain at least all of the following:
(a)
a request for registration;
(b)
information identifying the applicant;
(c)
a sufficiently clear representation of the design which permits the subject matter for which protection is sought to be determined;
(d)
an indication of the products in which the design is intended to be incorporated or to which it is intended to be applied.
2. The application for design registration shall be subject to the payment of a fee determined by the Member State concerned.
3. The indication of the products as referred to in paragraph 1, point (d), shall not affect the scope of protection of the design. That shall also apply to a description, and to any verbal disclaimers included therein, explaining the representation of the design if such a description is provided for by a Member State.
Representation of the design
1. The design shall be represented in any form of visual reproduction, either in black and white or in colour. The reproduction may be static, dynamic or animated and shall be effected by any appropriate means, using generally available technology, including drawings, photographs, videos, computer imaging or computer modelling.
2. The reproduction shall show all the aspects of the design for which protection is sought in one or more views. In addition, other types of views may be provided with the purpose of further detailing specific features of the design.
3. Where the representation contains different reproductions of the design or includes more than one view, those shall be consistent with each other, and the subject matter of the registration shall be determined by all the visual features of those views or reproductions combined.
4. The design shall be represented alone, to the exclusion of any other matter.
5. Matter for which no protection is sought shall be indicated by way of visual disclaimers. Any such visual disclaimers shall be used consistently.
6. The Member States’ central industrial property offices and the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property shall cooperate with each other and with the European Union Intellectual Property Office to establish common standards to be applied to the requirements and means of design representation, in particular as regards the types and number of views to be used, the types of acceptable visual disclaimers, as well as the technical specifications for the means to be used for the reproduction, storage and filing of designs, such as the formats and size of the relevant electronic files.
Multiple applications
Several designs may be combined in one multiple application for registered designs. That possibility shall not be subject to the condition that the products in which the designs are intended to be incorporated or to which they are intended to be applied all belong to the same class of the Locarno Classification.
Date of filing
1. The date of filing of a design application shall be the date on which the documents containing the information specified in Article 25(1), points (a), (b) and (c), are filed with the office by the applicant.
2. Without prejudice to paragraph 1 of this Article, the date of filing may be accorded where one or more of the elements required by Article 26 are missing, provided that the representation of the design as a whole is sufficiently clear within the meaning of Article 25(1), point (c).
3. Member States may, in addition, provide that the accordance of the date of filing is to be subject to the payment of a fee as referred to in Article 25(2).
Scope of substantive examination
The offices shall limit their examination of whether the design applied for is eligible for registration to the absence of the substantive grounds for non-registrability referred to in Article 13.
Deferment of publication
1. The applicant for a registered design may request, when filing the application, that the publication of the registered design be deferred for a period of up to 30 months from the date of filing the application or, if priority is claimed, from the date of priority.
2. Once the design has been registered, neither the representation of the design nor any file relating to the application shall be open to public inspection, subject to provisions of national law safeguarding legitimate interests of third parties.
3. A mention of the deferment of the publication of the registered design shall be published.
4. At the expiry of the period of deferment, or at any earlier date requested by the right holder, the office shall open to public inspection all the entries in its register and the file relating to the application and shall publish the registered design.
5. The right holder may prevent the publication of the registered design as referred to in paragraph 4, by submitting a request for surrender of the registered design.
6. Member States may provide, by way of derogation from paragraphs 4 and 5, that the office is to publish the registered design only at the request of the right holder. Where a Member State provides for the payment of a publication fee, the receipt of payment of that fee may be deemed to constitute such a request.
Procedure for declaration of invalidity
1. Without prejudice to the right of the parties to appeal to the courts, Member States may provide for an efficient and expeditious administrative procedure before their offices for the declaration of invalidity of a registered design right.
2. The administrative procedure for invalidity referred to in paragraph 1 shall provide that the design right is to be declared invalid at least on the following grounds:
(a)
the design should not have been registered because it does not comply with the definition laid down in Article 2, point (3), or with the requirements provided for in Articles 3 to 8;
(b)
the design should not have been registered because it is in breach of Article 13(1)(c);
(c)
the design should not have been registered because of the existence of a prior design within the meaning of Article 14(1), point (e).
3. The administrative procedure referred to in paragraph 1 shall provide that the following persons are to be entitled to file an application for a declaration of invalidity:
(a)
in the case of paragraph 2, point (a), of this Article, the persons, groups or bodies referred to in Article 14(3);
(b)
in the case of paragraph 2, point (b), of this Article, the person or entity referred to in Article 14(4);
(c)
in the case of paragraph 2, point (c), of this Article, at least the persons referred to in Article 14(6), points (a) and (b).
Renewal
1. Registration of a design shall be renewed at the request of the holder of the registered design right or any person authorised to request the renewal by law or by contract, provided that the renewal fees have been paid. Member States may provide that receipt of payment of the renewal fees is to be deemed to constitute such a request.
2. The office shall inform the holder of the registered design right of the expiry of the registration at least six months before the date of such expiry. The office shall not be held liable if it fails to give such information and such failure shall not affect the expiry of the registration.
3. The request for renewal shall be submitted and the renewal fees shall be paid within a period of at least six months immediately preceding the expiry of the registration.
Failing that, the request may be submitted within a further period of six months immediately following the expiry of the registration or of the subsequent renewal thereof. The renewal fees and an additional fee shall be paid within that further period.
4. In the case of a multiple registration, where the renewal fees paid are insufficient to cover all the designs for which renewal is requested, registration shall be renewed in respect of those designs which the amount paid is clearly intended to cover.
5. Renewal shall take effect from the day following the date on which the existing registration expires. The renewal shall be recorded in the register.
Communication with the office
Parties to the proceedings or, where appropriate, their representatives, shall designate an official address for all official communication with the office. Member States shall have the right to require that such an official address be situated in the European Economic Area.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
