Eu industrial design

definition and protection requirements (eu reform on industrial designs –“industrial design”–. Regulation 2024/2822 and directive 2024/2823)

Abstract

The commercial value added by the design to the product is something relevant that we can all see from our own personal experience. This value added by the design to the product is what is protected by the protection recognised through industrial property. And, in the initial legal regime for designs - industrial design - under European - then ‘Community’ - law, a genuine structure could also be seen. A design is essentially, as an industrial property protectable design, a type of formal innovation that was based on the appearance characteristics of the product (in order to make it more attractive and therefore more saleable). The EU reform at the end of 2024 seeks to accommodate new means with a new definitionof ‘design’ and ‘product’ respectively. This broadens the scope of design protection in response to technological developments (including in respect of 3D printing). The scope of this extension of protection is the subject of these pages.