The registration takes effect, as from the date of filing of the application, for a period of five years, which may be extended by periods of five years up to a maximum of twenty-five years.
Designs filed before 1 October 2001 remain protected, without possible extension, for a period of twenty-five years from their filing date. Designs whose protection has been extended, before 1 October 2001, for a further period of twenty-five years shall remain protected until the expiry of that period.
The maximum period of twenty-five years provided for in the first paragraph is reduced to ten years for the items mentioned in 4° of Article L. 513-6 for which the same 4° does not provide for any exception to the exercise of the rights conferred by the registration of a design.