A rich news year for Designs and Models with the end of 2024 bringing.
- A new regulation on Community designs (1),
- A new directive on the legal protection of designs in Member States (2),
- A new international treaty, known as the Riyadh Treaty, harmonizing design law on a global scale (3).
The Riyadh Treaty will come into force three months after being ratified by fifteen states (18 signatory states) (4). The transposition deadline for the directive into French law is set for December 9, 2027, while the new regulation on designs will be partially applicable from May 1, 2025.
These new community provisions will not revolutionize the practice of designs but will impact the strategy for protection, management, and defense of your EU designs.
A new terminology with a new symbol and new definitions
Procedural changes
New rights and new limitations
A new terminology with a new symbol and new unified definitions
- A change in vocabulary: community design becomes European Union design (EUD) (Article 1 of the Regulation), aligning with European Union trademark.
- A new symbol to identify a registered European Union design: the Ⓓ symbol, an optional and purely informational sign (Article 26a of the Regulation).
- New definitions for “design” and “product,” expanding the scope of protectable elements to include non-static features (movement, transitions, or any other type of animation). The regulation explicitly covers non-physical items (such as “the spatial arrangement of elements forming an interior or exterior environment” and “Graphical user interfaces” (Article 3 of the Regulation).
Procedural changes
- New representation requirements for designs, effective July 1, 2026: designs must be represented clearly enough to define the scope of protection (Article 36 of the Regulation). The representation can be static, dynamic, or animated and may be created using any appropriate technology, such as sketches, photographs, videos, computer imaging, or 3D modeling. Accepted file formats will be determined by the EUIPO Director, but formats used for motion trademarks (e.g., MP4, JPEG) should be accepted.
- New deadline calculation method: design renewals will now be due on the expiration date rather than at the end of the month (Article 50 quinquies of the Regulation).
- Publication deferral remains available, allowing applicants to delay publication for up to 30 months (Article 50 of the Regulation). However, a major change is introduced: at the end of the deferral period, publication will now occur automatically unless the holder expressly renounces it. Previously, publication required a positive action (payment of publication fees), it will now automatically happen, unless surrender. This change requires careful attention to ensure that publication does not compromise the validity of later-filed designs for the same product (in cases of evolutions or adaptations).
- Abolition of the single-class filing principle: multiple designs can now be filed in a single application, even if they belong to different Locarno classes (up to 50 designs per application). For example, a motor and a remote control can be included in the same EU multiple design application. However, for filings outside the EU, divisional applications may still be necessary.
- New fees with a merger of filing and publication fees and a significant increase in renewal fees.
| Filing | 230€ | 350€ |
| Publication | 120€ | |
| Additional design | 115€ +60€ (up to 10th) 50€ + 30 (from 11th) |
125 € (up to 50 designs) |
| Renewal | 90€ per design 120€ per design 150 € per design 180 € per design |
150€ per design 250€ per design 400 € per design 700 € per design |
This fee increase will take effect on May 1, 2025. A design can be renewed six months before its expiration. Therefore, to avoid this fee increase for designs expiring between May 1, 2025, and October 31, 2025, it is recommended to renew them before May 1, 2025.
- Abolition of the €200 fee for registering a transfer of a European Union design (DMUE). However, assignments must now be made in writing, or they will be deemed null and void (Article 28 of the Regulation).
New rights and limitations
- New prohibited acts: “the creation, downloading, copying, and sharing or distribution to others of any medium or software recording the design” to enable the making of a product in which the design is incorporated (Art. 19 d) Regulation). Thus, downloading and sharing files reproducing a design for the purpose of manufacturing a product, notably by 3D printing, is prohibited.
- Transit of goods: it will now be possible to oppose the transit of goods unless the holder of the goods can demonstrate the legality of the commercialization of the goods in the destination state (Art. 19.3 Regulation).
- Authorization of “acts of reproduction carried out to identify a product or refer to it (comparative advertising/sale of compatible products) as being that of the design holder and acts carried out for the purpose of commentary, criticism, or parody” as long as these acts are compatible with fair commercial practices and do not unduly prejudice the normal exploitation of the design (Art. 20 Regulation).
- A modification of the repair clause, with an exclusion of protection for a “part of a complex product whose appearance conditions the design of said part and which is used (…) solely to repair this complex product to restore its original appearance” (Art. 20 bis Regulation). This exception, whose application is not limited to the automotive field, requires that:
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- The spare part is used to restore the complex product to its original appearance,
- This part is identical to the original part,
- Consumers are informed of the commercial origin of the part and the identity of its manufacturer.
Before May 1, 2025, renew your European Union designs expiring between May 1 and October 31, 2025, to avoid the significant increase in renewal fees.
(1) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202402822
(2) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202402823
(3) https://www.wipo.int/diplomatic-conferences/fr/design-law/index.html
(4) Saudi Arabia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Congo, Costa Rica, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Lebanon, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Central African Republic, Moldova, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan, Zimbabwe.