Requirements of registration

A design is protected to the extent that it is new and has individual character. Design means the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colors, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation. Product means any industrial or handicraft item, including inter alia parts intended to be assembled into a complex product, packaging, get-up, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces, but excluding computer programs. Complex product means a product which is composed of multiple components which can be replaced permitting disassembly and re-assembly of the product.

A design is considered to be new if no identical design has been made available to the public before the date of priority.

A design is considered to have 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 before the date of priority. In assessing individual character, the degree of freedom of the designer - taking into consideration the nature of the product to which the design is applied or in which it is incorporated, and in particular the industrial or handicraft sector - in developing the design shall be applied.

A design is deemed to have been made available to the public if it has been published following registration or otherwise, or exhibited, used in trade or otherwise disclosed, except where these events could not reasonably have become known in the normal course of business to the circles specialized in the sector concerned, operating within the European Community.

Disclosure shall not be taken into consideration for the purpose of assessing as to whether a design is deemed to be new or whether it has individual character if the design has been made available to the public during the 12-month grace period preceding the date of priority (a) as a consequence of an abuse in relation to the designer or his predecessor in title; or (b) by the designer, his predecessor in title, or a third person as a result of information provided or action taken by the designer or his predecessor in title.

A design applied to or incorporated in a product which constitutes a component part of a complex product is considered to be new and to have individual character only:

• if the component part, once it has been incorporated into the complex product, remains visible during normal use of the latter; and

• to the extent that those visible features of the component part fulfill in themselves the requirements as to novelty and individual character.

Normal use shall mean use by the consumer or end user, excluding maintenance, servicing or repair work.