Changes to EU registered designs in May 2025

Design protection in the European Union underwent a number of changes on 1 May 2025. This article explains some of the more significant changes, which may result in changes to strategies for design protection in the EU.

Background

EU Regulation 2024/2822 and EU Directive 2024/2823 set out a number of changes to design law in the European Union. For the most part, the Regulation started to apply from 1 May 2025, except for some articles which require secondary legislation and so will start to apply from 1 July 2026. EU member states have until 9 December 2027 as a transition period to implement the Directive. However, for the ‘Repair Clause’ discussed below, the transition period is in place until 9 December 2032.

Terminology

First up was a change in terminology. As of 1 May 2025, the name for design protection in the EU of “Community Design” changed to “European Union Design”.

And there is a new symbol to mark a registered EU design, Ⓓ, which can be used in the same way that ® is used for registered EU trade marks.

Definitions

Some definitions have been updated to capture the design landscape in the digital age. The definition of a design has been updated to mean “the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features, in particular the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials, of the product itself and/or of its decoration, including the movement, transition or any other sort of animation of those features”. With this new definition, features which contribute to the appearance of a design which is not embodied in a physical object are now included in the definition of a design.

The definition of product has also changed. A product now includes “any industrial or handicraft item other than a computer program, regardless of whether it is embodied in a physical object or materialises in a non-physical form”. Again, this shows a move towards recognition and inclusion of digital designs in registered design protection in the EU.

The definition of a product has been further updated to include “(a) packaging, sets of articles, spatial arrangements of items intended to form an interior or exterior environment, and parts intended to be assembled into a complex product; (b) graphic works or symbols, logos, surface patterns, typographic typefaces, and graphical user interfaces”. The inclusion of graphical user interfaces in the definition of a product clearly introduces GUIs into the eligibility criteria for design protection. The inclusion of “spatial arrangements of items intended to form an interior or exterior environment” in the definition of a product is perhaps more open to interpretation, but could well include virtual reality worlds.

Visibility in Use

Those familiar with registered design protection in the EU will have been aware of the principle that features which are not visible during normal use of the product were not protectable. However, from 1 May 2025, this limitation only applies to component parts of complex products.

Filing the application

Continuing with the theme of modifying design protection in the EU for the digital age, the reproductions of the design that can be filed for the application can “be static, dynamic or animated and shall be effected by any appropriate means, using generally available technology, including drawings, photographs, videos, computer imaging or computer modelling.” This opens up a much broader range of representation possibilities which will likely be necessary given the updates to the definitions of a ‘design’ and a ‘product’. The new types of representations will apply as of 1 July 2026.

It is now possible to file multiple designs in a single application across different Locarno classes. Previously multiple designs in a single application had to be in the same Locarno class.

Fees

From 1 May 2025, the EUIPO have started to charge a single application fee of 350 EUR. This had previously been separated into a registration fee and publication fee which totalled 350 EUR and were paid on filing.

As of 1 May 2025, the additional application fee in respect of each additional design included in a multiple application became 125 EUR. This had previously been a tiered system where the 2nd to 10th additional designs each incurred a set of fees and the 11th additional design onwards each incurred a more expensive set of fees.

Furthermore, from 1 May 2025, renewal fees (paid every 5 years) increased by a substantial amount:

• 6 – 10 years: 90 EUR -> 150 EUR;

• 11 – 15 years: 120 EUR -> 250 EUR;

• 16 - 20 years: 150 EUR -> 400 EUR;

• 21 – 25 years: 180 EUR -> 700 EUR.

Renewal Date

From 1 May 2025, the renewal date of a registered EU design became the 5th (10th, 15th or 20th) year anniversary of the filing date. This is different to the previous renewal date calculation under which the renewal date was the last day of the calendar month in which the 5th (10th, 15th or 20th) year anniversary of the filing date falls.

The determining factor for which renewal date will apply depends on when the 6-month period before the 5th (10th, 15th or 20th) year anniversary of the filing date starts. If the 6-month period started before 1 May 2025, then the renewal date is the last day of the calendar month in which the 5th (10th, 15th or 20th) year anniversary of the filing date falls. If the 6-month period starts on or after 1 May 2025, then the renewal date is the 5th (10th, 15th or 20th) year anniversary of the filing date.

Infringement

Moving on to infringement, from 1 May 2025 onwards, infringing acts include “creating, downloading, copying and sharing or distributing to others any medium or software which records the design for the purpose of enabling a product … to be made.” The purpose of this addition to the list of infringing acts appears to be to prevent 3D printing of protected designs.

Repair Clause

The Repair Clause has been one of the most anticipated changes to design law in the EU. There has been some discrepancy regarding the Repair Clause in EU states for a while now, so this change is intended to harmonise the law amongst EU countries. The new Repair Clause states that EU Designs will not protect component parts, which are dependent on the appearance of the complex product to which it is a part, and which are used for the sole purpose of repairing the complex product to restore its original appearance. This prevents EU Design rights holders from monopolising the spare parts market. This is particularly relevant in the automotive industry.

Third party manufacturers and sellers must inform consumers clearly about the commercial origin of the component part and the identity of the manufacturer, so that the consumer can make an informed decision about whether to buy from the original manufacturer or a competitor. If the third party does not make this clear to the consumer, then the third party’s actions are not protected by the exclusion above.

Third party sellers and manufacturers are not required to guarantee that the end user uses the component part solely for the purpose of repair to restore the original appearance of the complex product. Indeed, if the third-party sellers and manufacturers were required to make this guarantee, it could be quite burdensome.

As a reminder, for the ‘Repair Clause’ the transition period for the Directive is in place until 9 December 2032. The Regulation applies as of 1 May 2025.

Transportation of Counterfeit Goods

From 1 May 2025, the new Regulation allows the holder of a registered EU design to prevent third parties from bringing counterfeit products into the EU from non-EU countries without the consent of the rights holder, even if the counterfeit products are not intended to be sold in the EU.

If you have any questions regarding the above, please contact Chris Cottingham or Phoebe Hunter, or otherwise get in touch.

Author: Phoebe Hunter