Book V: Designs

The appearance of a product, or part of a product, characterised in particular by its lines, contours, colours, shape, texture or materials, may be protected as a design. These characteristics may be those of the product itself or of its ornamentation. Any industrial or handicraft object is considered a product, including parts designed to be assembled into a complex product, packaging, presentations, graphic symbols and typographical characters, but excluding computer…

Only designs that are new and have their own character may be protected.

A design shall be regarded as new if, at the date of filing of the application for registration or at the date of priority claimed, no identical design has been disclosed. Designs are considered identical when their characteristics differ only in insignificant details.

A design has a character of its own when the overall visual impression which it produces in the informed observer differs from that produced by any design disclosed before the date of filing of the application for registration or before the date of priority claimed. In assessing character of its own, account shall be taken of the freedom left to the designer in producing the design.

The design of a part of a complex product shall be regarded as new and having its own character only to the extent that: a) The part, once incorporated into the complex product, remains visible during normal use of that product by the end user, with the exception of maintenance, service or repair; b) The visible features of the part as such fulfil the conditions of novelty and own character….

A design shall be deemed to have been disclosed if it has been made available to the public by publication, use or any other means. There shall be no disclosure where the design could not reasonably have become known, according to the usual business practice in the sector concerned, to professionals acting in the European Community, before the date of filing of the application for registration or before the date…

Designs contrary to public policy or morality are not protected.

The following are not eligible for protection: 1° An appearance whose characteristics are exclusively imposed by the technical function of the product; 2° The appearance of a product whose exact shape and size must necessarily be reproduced so that it can be mechanically associated with another product by being brought into contact, connected, placed inside or outside under conditions that allow each of these products to fulfil its function. However,…