Tag: design

Posted on

EU design reform update

As previously reported on this blog, the EU design regulation and the EU design directive are going to be modified. This is a multi-phase process, with the first of the phases entering into force on 1 May 2025. If you want to learn more, check out the EUIPO’s webinar recording that provides updated information on the changes.

One important aspect of the changes is that the new regulation will allow IP stakeholders to more easily obtain adequate design protection for designs that can be represented in an electronic register. The new requirements on the graphical representation will be specified in the secondary legislation (Implementing and Delegated Regulations), which will enter into force in Phase II of the reform (starting from 1 October 2026).

Posted on

EUIPO design fees & priority

In the 2023 edition of the Guidelines, the EUIPO has introduced a paragraph ‘clarifying’ (in the EUIPO’s view) ‘that the Office will not begin examining the application, and therefore will not accord a filing date, until the fee has been paid.’ While the EUIPO ultimately has to determine whether a filing date can be accorded even when no fees are paid, the EUIPO wants users to know that it is possible that it can take months until a filing date is accorded. There is nothing that prevents the EUIPO from according a filing date only after expiry of the priority term (as explicitly stated in the EUIPO’s webinar on the Guidelines 2023 edition starting at 1:52:26).

Thus, while the EU design regulation stipulates that fee payment is not a requirement for according a filing date (in contrast to the EU trademark regulation), the EUIPO’s practice means that the only way to guarantee that an EU design application can serve as a basis for claiming a priority is to pay the fees.

For a German national filing it is not required to pay the fees for a design application to be accorded a filing date. Thus, applicants desiring to establish a priority date, while being uncertain whether they wish to proceed with the design registration, could consider filing with, e.g., the German Patent and Trademark Office. Unfortunately, this approach may have drawbacks for non-German applicants who wish to use the priority filing as basis for an international registration under The Hague design convention.