Regulation (EU) 2024/2822

What it is

The Legal Affairs Committee adopted the report by Gilles LEBRETON (ID, FR) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community designs and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 2246/2002. As a reminder, the proposal aims to modernise the European design protection system, in particular to adapt it to the digital age, and also to make this protection more attractive to independent designers and businesses, especially SMEs. The committee recommended that the European Parliament's first-reading position under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission's proposal. Members broadly endorse the proposed guidelines, but suggest amendments aimed primarily at improving legal certainty. The European Union Intellectual Property Office should provide the public with frequent and clear information on these tasks, in order to publicise and promote the possibilities of registering an EU design. The European Parliament adopted by 447 votes to 14, with 66 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community designs and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 2246/2002. This proposal and the parallel proposal to recast Directive 98/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council aim to ensure that the design protection system as a whole is adapted to the digital age and becomes significantly more accessible and efficient for independent designers, SMEs and design-intensive industries, by lowering costs, simplifying procedures, making them faster and more predictable, and increasing legal certainty. The proposal to amend the Regulation meets the following objectives: - to modernise and improve existing provisions, by amending obsolete provisions, increasing legal certainty and clarifying rights as regards their scope and limits; - to improve the accessibility, effectiveness and affordability of the design protection systems, by simplifying and streamlining procedures and adapting and optimising the level and structure of fees payable. Overall, Parliament supports the proposal. The European Parliament's position at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure amends the proposal as follows: Protection by a registered EU design should arise upon registration by the Office. A registered EU design should be registered for a period of five years calculated from the date of filing of the application for registration. The right holder may renew the registration for one or more periods of five years each, up to a total term of protection of 25 years from the date of filing of the application for registration. An amendments stipulated that the manufacturer or seller of a component part of a complex product should not be required to guarantee that the component parts they make or sell are ultimately used by end users for the sole purpose of repair so as to restore the original appearance of the complex product. The amended text stated that an EU design may be declared invalid only in the following situations: - the EU design is in…

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