European Council and European Parliament tentatively agree to revise design protection package | Update breathes new life into 20-year-old law | Repair clauses are 'critical' and apply to store designs, traditional costumes and virtual products Protection is also extended to the design of
The European Council and the European Parliament have reached a preliminary agreement on a design protection package that could extend protection radially to new areas such as virtual design, store layouts and traditional costumes.
The package includes the Directive on the Legal Protection of Design and the Regulation on Community Design, effectively modernizing the 20-year-old law to meet the challenges posed by the digital and 3D printing era. .
“Good design very often motivates consumers to choose cars, chairs, lamps and other products,” Spain's Minister of Industry and Tourism Jordi Heleu said in a statement.
“This agreement will make it easier, cheaper and faster for designers to protect their work in the digital age.”
repair clause
One of the main outcomes of this agreement is the liberalization of the spare parts market.
The Repair Clause establishes new rules that exclude spare parts used to repair complex products from design protection.
Louise Popple, a senior legal adviser in Taylor Wessing's intellectual property and media group, said the agreement on remediation clauses, particularly the additions to the directive, was “important”.
“This was considered to be a significant hurdle, so the fact that it has been agreed represents real progress. This clause is welcome news for those in the spare parts market, but it is also “Manufacturers' rights will be limited,” she said.
According to the Council and Parliament, the aim is to facilitate access to spare parts for repairs across the EU, resulting in savings for consumers of between €340 million and €544 million over the next 10 years. It is said that there is a possibility.
The EU Council and Parliament said the agreement balanced the interests of consumers, design owners and the replacement parts industry and included a “repair clause” in the Directive on the legal protection of designs.
This alignment will ensure consistency between the European design system and national frameworks, with a harmonized transition period of eight years.
Virtual design and store layout
“One of the most interesting aspects of the new design law is that it facilitates the protection of virtual designs,” Popple said.
This protection is critical in the transition to a complex digital environment, she explained.
“We will be able to protect not only the digital design elements of real-world products, but also the designs of virtual products.”
To ensure the viability of national and EU design protection systems, the Interim Agreement introduces an EU-wide fee increase.
These fees are higher than those for national-only protection regimes and reflect the wider territorial scope of design protection across the EU.
Furthermore, “spatial arrangements,'' including “articles intended to form internal environments and parts intended to be assembled into complex products,'' are also subject to protection.
“This reflects the growing desire for designs such as store interior layouts to benefit from design protection, and the growing protection of such layouts in other countries,” Popple explained. .
He cited the example of Decathlon, which succeeded in China by legally preventing third parties from using layouts similar to its own stores under unfair competition laws.
Additionally, as a way to address cultural concerns, the agreement prohibits the protection of elements of national cultural heritage, such as traditional regional costumes, as private designs.
To establish clear boundaries, the co-legislators incorporated UNESCO's definition of “cultural heritage” into the agreement.
Differences between the EU and the UK
Member States have a 36-month transition period to take the necessary steps under the Directive on the Legal Protection of Industrial Designs.
On the other hand, the EU's design regulations will apply throughout the EU as soon as they come into effect, creating a challenge for non-EU European countries such as the UK.
Popple said: “Of course, developments in this matter also mean that UK and EU design law will diverge, meaning that designers will have to deal with two, albeit overlapping, systems. It means that.”
“The UK has indicated its intention to carry out further consultation on the UK design regime next year, but any changes made are unlikely to be directly reflected in the new EU regime.”
This interim agreement currently awaits approval and formal adoption by both the European Parliament and the Council.
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