Sourse:
Overview of the europe design patent According to the definition given in the Community design regulation ‘design’ means the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation.
A design protects the appearance of either the whole product or a part of it, that results from its features, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation.
The representation of your design is the most important part of the application. It defines the scope of protection. A design protects only the appearance of a product and not its function.
Your design must be novel and have individual character. This means it must be new and differ from the overall impression produced by previous designs. It must also respect public policy and morality standards.
Contents
1. What Can be Registered as a Design in EU?
2. What are the application procedures and documents required for EU design?
3. Reasons for refusal of a Design application in EU?
4. The fees of applying Design?
5. Conclusion
1. What Can be Registered as a Design in EU? Design registration protects the appearance of a whole product or part of it, including its lines, contours, colours, shape, texture or materials, and its ornamentation. You can learn about the basics of design law and how to register here.
You’ll be able to file up to 7 views of your design. You can include 3 more, but these images will not be protected as part of your design right.
Make sure all the views correspond to the same design. For example, you shouldn’t show any colour variations.
Your design must be represented on a neutral background.
Don’t put in any elements that are not part of your design, such as background scenery or measurements.
The representation of your design must correspond to the product indication you choose.
2. What are the application procedures and documents required for EU design?
There are two ways to apply for the registration of an EU design: through the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) or through the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO):
(1) EUIPO route:
The EUIPO route for the EU design registration application procedure at EUIPO consists mainly of an "Acceptance and Formal Examination" and a "Physical Examination":
A. Admissibility and Formal Review:
(a) Eligibility of applicants: any individual or company. If the applicant is a non-EU applicant and does not have a domicile, a place of business, a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in the EU, it must appoint an agent to carry out all the procedures except for the submission of the application.
(b) Language of application: Applications may be made in any of the official languages of the EU, provided that one of the official languages of the EU Intellectual Property Office (English, French, German, Italian or Spanish) is specified as a second language, which must be different from the language of application.
(c) Delivery: the application documents must be submitted to the EU Intellectual Property Office in person, by post or by electronic means, or they may be submitted to the central industrial property office of a Member State.
(d) Application documents: in addition to drawings or photographs representing the design in black and white or in colour, they must also contain items that meet the mandatory requirements of proof of identity of the applicant and his/her representative (if appointed), the language requirements of the application, signatures, indications of the product and a long list of the product, and, if there is a need to claim international priority or exhibition priority, a request for international priority or exhibition priority, a description explaining the design, a narrative, a Roccaño, a description of the design, a description of the design, and an explanation of the design. (d) Optional parts such as narrative, Locarno Classification, designer's citation or delay request.
(e) Multiple Submissions: Multiple designs (an unlimited number) may be included in the same application for registration, where each design is examined separately and may exercise its powers separately. Multiple applications have the advantage of lower combined registration and publication fees than separate applications for each design. The appearance, nature or purpose of the designs need not be related to each other, but the owner of each design must be the same, the number of designs must not be confused with the number of viewpoints of the designs, each design must be appropriately (graphically) represented, and each design must belong only to the same category in the Roccaro Classification. Although each design in the multi-repeat application will be examined separately, the decision to grant registration or to reject each design examined in the multi-repeat application will be made at the same time, i.e., even if there are no grounds for not registering several designs in a certain part of the multi-repeat application, the Examiner will not grant registration or rejection to several designs without grounds for not registering them until the other several designs with grounds for not registering them are examined and found to be granted registration or rejected. (e) the payment of a fee for the registration of a part of a design that has been approved for registration or dismissed.
(f) Payment of fees: Registration fees, publication fees, delayed publication fees, additional registration fees for multiple renewals, additional publication fees for multiple renewals, and additional delayed publication fees for multiple renewals must be paid at the time of filing the application for registration.
* Substantive examination:
If an application for EU-designed registration passes the formal review, the subsequent physical review will only examine whether the design of the application for registration complies with the definition of design and whether it violates public policy and ethics.
Once the application for registration of the EU design has passed the physical examination and the examiners have reconfirmed that the contents of the documents are in order and that the fees have been paid, the EU design will be registered and advertised.
(2) The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) route:
The WIPO route is an international design registration system based on the Hague Agreement. Nationals of States Parties to the Hague Agreement or applicants who are domiciled or have a bona fide industrial or commercial establishment in one of the States Parties to the Hague Agreement may submit an application for international design registration in the official language of the International Bureau of the WIPO (English, French or Spanish) to the International Bureau of the WIPO for payment of fees such as the basic fee, the publicity fee, and the fee for designation, and designate the Intellectual Property Office of the European Union (IPOEU) as the Designated Office. The International Bureau of WIPO will carry out a formal examination of the application for international design registration and, if the requirements of the formal examination are met, will publish the international design registration in the International Designs Bulletin and notify the EU Intellectual Property Office by electronic communication.
Thereafter, the EU Intellectual Property Office will carry out a physical examination (i.e. checking for compliance with the definition of design and violation of public policy and ethics) of the application for registration of the international design, instead of carrying out a formal examination. If the physical examination justifies not registering the design, the EU Intellectual Property Office must notify the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) within six months of the International Design Bulletin (IDB) announcing the registration of the international design. In addition, if the non-EU applicant does not have a domicile, a place of business, a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in the EU, it will be required to appoint an agent within a specified period of time, failing which the EU Intellectual Property Office will refuse to protect the international design registration in the EU. If, after examination, the EU Intellectual Property Office does not have grounds for refusing registration, it will immediately notify the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (IBWIO). If the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation does not receive notification from the EU Intellectual Property Office of the reasons for refusal of registration within six months of the publication of the international design in the International Design Gazette, the international design registration shall have the same rights as if it had been registered through the EU Intellectual Property Office as of the date of international registration.
3. Reasons for refusal of a Design application in us?
◆Excluded as a design:(1) Not new: No identical design has been made available to the public
(2) No individual character: If the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced on such a user by any design which has been made available to the public
＊A design is deemed to have been made available to the public if it has been disclosed in any way, except where this could not reasonably have become known to the specialized circles operating within the EU (both CD and national/Benelux designs)
◆Also excluded as a designSome examples:
(1) Designs exclusively dictated by their technical function
(2) Flags and other symbols (Art. 6ter Paris Convention)
(3) Designs contrary to public policy or morality
＊Notice: Ex officio examination (both EUIPO and BOIP) is very limited. Invalidity can be requested by any interested party, either before the Office or Court (only option in Benelux)
4. The fees of applying Design patent? 5. Conclusion EU remains an attractive destination for businesses seeking to establish and safeguard their design patent.
In the team of our law firm, each of attorneys, agents and experts is experienced in obtaining and protecting a design patent, from design patent prosecution to handling infringements, appeals and litigations before the courts. We, Lewis & Davis Patent Attorneys Office, are capable to give you the most secure protection on your design patent and intellectual property rights.
For further information on how to protect your design patent, please contact us.