European Union notification 

The European Union design protection is a uniform protection covering the entire European Union, with the same rightholder in each Member State, and which arises and ceases simultaneously and uniformly in each Member State.

EU design protection is a legal instrument in the European Union that plays an important role in the functioning of the single internal market by facilitating the free movement of goods and services between Member States.

The European Union design system was established by the former Community Design Regulation (Community Regulation), under which registered Community designs were available from 1 April 2003. This Regulation has been amended by the European Union Design Regulation (EUDR) as a result of the Design Reform, under which registered EU designs may be obtained from 1 May 2025. The implementation of this Regulation is governed by an implementing regulation implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community designs and the fees relating to EU design protection are set out in the Annex to the EUDR.

The differences between the two types of protection can be summarised as follows:

Unlike the Hungarian system, the EU design protection system distinguishes between registered and unregistered EU designs. The basic conditions for eligibility for protection are the same in both cases: the design may be protected if it meets the requirements of novelty and individual character, and the scope and effect of the protection, as well as the circumstances in which protection may be refused or invalidity requested (grounds for refusal), are the same.

The differences between the two types of protection can be summarised as follows:

The advantage of a registered EU design is that protection can be obtained in a single application, in a single language, for a single fee, for all 27 EU Member States, simultaneously, in one single procedure.

Therefore, the protection does not require the launch of time-consuming and expensive procedures in each Member State to obtain protection, coping with different languages, fees and legal regualtions. Nevertheless, if it is not justified to obtain protection in all Member States with the view of the planned market introduction of the product, there is no obstacle to obtaining protection only in specific Member States on the basis of the national legal regulations, moreover, both EU and national protection may be obtained for the same design. Indeed, national and EU design protection do not exclude each other and they may exist parallel with each other.

It is also advantageous feature that - in conformity with the national legal regulations - the making available to the public of the design does not prejudice novelty (i.e does not represent an obstacle that excludes the obtaining of protection) if the designer or his legal successor files an application for protection of the design with EUIPO within 12 months of publication. The benefit of the 12-month grace period provides an opportunity to consider and decide whether, in the light of specific market conditions, it is worthwhile to obtain protection for the design by registration.

Unregistered design protection offers a tailor-made solution for industries that manufacture quickly-changing or depreciating products, such as the clothing or footwear industries. However, the uncertainty related to the establishment of protection, may prove to be a risk factor in a legal dispute, i.e. evidencing the date of making available to the public, what the protection actually covers as well as whether the case of intentional copying prevails.

A protectable design may be the appearance of whole or part of a product resulting from the external characteristics of the product itself or of its ornamentation, 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. The design is therefore always linked to a specific product. However, it is important to note, that the protection applies to the design itself and is not necessarily limited to the product specified in the application. A product may be 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. Products include, packaging, sets of articles, spatial arrangements of items intended to form an interior or exterior environment, graphic works, symbols, logos, surface patterns, typographic typefaces, and graphical user interfaces, and parts (components) intended to form a complex product.

The two basic requirements for a design are that it must have novelty and individual character, and that it must not be excluded from protection. It should be noted here that, although novelty and individual character are a condition for a design to be eligible for protection, the examination of these requirements is not part of the EU design registration procedure. In practice, this means that the applicant's design will be registered even if it does not meet these requirements. The examination of the protectability of the design in this respect can only take place in invalidity proceedings brought by an opposing party.

A design is regarded as new if an identical design has not been made available to the public before the date of filing of the design application or, in the case of an EU design which is protected without being registered, before the date on which the design is made available to the public. Designs shall be deemed to be identical if their features differ only in immaterial details.. The assessment of identity therefore requires a degree of discretion in each cases.

A design carries an individual character if the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced on such a user by any design which has been made available to the public. The different overall impression must have existed before to the filing of the design application or, in the case of an unregistered design, before the date on which the design has first been made available to the public. In assessing individual character, the degree of freedom of the designer in developing the design shall be taken into consideration. The functions and technical conditions performed by various products set a limit to the creative freedom: obviously, the designer’s scope is larger when designing a piece of jewel than a car windscreen.

A features of appearance of a product which are solely dictated by its technical function shall not subsist as an EU design. Likewise, a feature of appearance of a product which must necessarily be reproduced in their exact form and dimensions in order to permit the product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied to be mechanically connected to or placed in, around or against another product so that either product may perform its function is excluded from protection. However, an exception to the last ground for exclusion - regarding products that can be structurally connected - is when the design serving the purpose of allowing the multiple assembly or connection of mutually interchangeable products within a modular system... Therefore, on the basis of this rule, protection may be granted to modular products, for example, building blocks as well as furniture or other game systems that work on an identical principle.

A design shall not be protected if it is contrary to public policy or morality. Designs which are contrary to public morality include, for example, those which contain vulgar and offensive expressions or obscene images or that hurt the public taste because of their strong sexual content. Public policy is a set of basic institutions and principles common to the legal systems of the EU and the Member States. Therefore, designs featuring, for example, symbols of despotism are against the public policy.

A design may not be protected if it makes unauthorised use of a badge, emblem or escutcheon other than those regulated, which is of particular public interest in a Member State.

Nor shall a design be protected by a European Union design if any of the grounds for invalidity - as specified in the Community Regulation – prevail. In that case, a procedure for declaring the invalidity of the design may be initiated before the EUIPO or the competent courts. In the case of invalidity, the protection of the design shall cease to exist with a retroactive effect to its date of establishment.

Any natural person or legal entity, irrespective of their nationality or place of business, may file an application for an EU design, including Hungarian designers and undertakings.

The right to design protection, i.e. the entitlement to file an application with EUIPO and obtain protection for a given design, as a main rule - due to the designer as well as to the person to whom the design has been assigned by the designer or to whom the right was assigned by virtue of a legal regulation or a public authority act (official, court decision). Under the EU Design Regulation, where a design is developed by an employee in the execution of his/her duties or following instructions given by his/her employer, the right to the design shall vest in the employer, unless otherwise agreed by the parties or provided by the law of the country concerned.

Any natural person or legal entity, irrespective of their nationality or place of business, may file an application for an EU design, including Hungarian designers and undertakings.

The right to design protection, i.e. the entitlement to file an application with EUIPO and obtain protection for a given design, as a main rule - due to the designer as well as to the person to whom the design has been assigned by the designer or to whom the right was assigned by virtue of a legal regulation or a public authority act (official, court decision). Under the EU Design Regulation, where a design is developed by an employee in the execution of his/her duties or following instructions given by his/her employer, the right to the design shall vest in the employer, unless otherwise agreed by the parties or provided by the law of the country concerned.

A design which satisfies the requirements of the EU Design Regulation shall be protected on the basis of registration by the EUIPO. The term of protection is 5 years from the date of filing. The right holder may, at his discretion, renew the protection at most four times for a fee, with the proviso that the total term of protection may not exceed 25 years.

The rights conferred by design protection are provided by the entitlements that are due to the holder on the basis of the protection. On the one hand, the holder has the exclusive right to use the design. The use shall include, inter alia, the making, place on the market, offering, importation, exportation use and stocking of the product for such purposes. On the other hand, the right holder may take action against any third party who use the design without his consent, which also means that everyone is obliged to refrain from using the design without a consent.

In the case of an unregistered design or a registered design for which deferment of publication has been requested, the right holder may only take action against use the design without his consent if the contested use results from copying the protected design. The European Union Design Regulation establishes a presumption with regard to copying: The contested use shall not be deemed to result from copying the protected design if it results from an independent work of creation by a designer who may be reasonably thought not to be familiar with the design made available to the public by the holder. Accordingly, in the case of infringement, the right holder must in the first place prove the eligibility of the design for protection as well as the fact whether he has made the design available to the public in the territority of the the European Union and that the infringer can be reasonably presumed to know (or to have known) it, i.e. the infringing product was (could have been) created not independently but by copying the design.

The rights deriving from design protection may not be exercised in the cases specified in the European Union Design Regulation and the holder of the design protection is obliged to tolerate certain acts in relation to the design. These are:

The rights conferred by a European Union design right under an exhaustion of rights shall not extend to any other acts relating to a product based on the design which has been placed on the market in the European Union by the holder of the design right or with his/her express consent. Accordingly, the holder cannot prohibit, for example, other persons from bringing into, and putting on the market in Hungary the design-related product that was put on the market by him/her in Germany.

The right of prior use of registered EU designs is also a limitation of the rights conferred by the design right. Prior use shall exist for any third person who can establish that before the date of filing of the application, or, if a priority is claimed, before the date of priority, he has in good faith commenced use within the European Union, or has made serious and effective preparations to that end, of a design included within the scope of protection of a registered EU design, which has not been copied from the latter.

A design protected without a registration confers uniform protection in all Member States without the need for a separate procedure. Protection is granted from the date on which the design was first made available to the public in the European Union (typically the marketing of the product in which the design is incorporated) and lasts for 3 years from that date.

A design shall be deemed to have been made available to the public if it has been published, or otherwise exhibited, used in trade or otherwise disclosed in such a way that, in the normal course of business, it could reasonably have become known to the circles specialised in the sector concerned within the European Union.

However, a design shall not be deemed to have been made available to the public if it has been disclosed to a third person under explicit or implicit conditions of confidentiality.

Unlike a registered EU design right, the protection does not grant the right holder an exclusive right to use the design. The protection takes the nature of competition law: the holder of an unregistered design protection may proceed against acts qualified as use without consent of the design if these acts have been carried out by copying the design, i.e. this type of protection is only effective against intentional copying. If the design was created by a second designer independently of the first designer and he was not aware of the existence of the protected design, there is no infringement.

In the case of a registered European Union design, protection may be obtained by registering the design on the basis of an application to the EUIPO, following the regular procedure.

Like national protection, a registered EU design confers on the right holder the exclusive right to use the design, i.e. to make, offer, place on the market or use, import, export or stock the product incorporating the design, to create, download, copy, share or distribute to others any medium or software in which the design is incorporated for the purpose of enabling the product and to prevent others from doing so with products embodying the design which do not make a different overall impression.

As with national protection, a registered EU design lasts for 5 years from the date of filing with the EUIPO, and can be renewed 4 more times for a further 5 to 5 years, up to a total term of 25 years of EU protection.

In the context of EU design protection, it is important to note that the EUIPO does not conduct a novelty search during the examination, but presumes novelty and individual character. For this reason, although the procedure may be faster, invalidity proceedings often occur after protection has been obtained.

More details on how to obtain protection can be found on the EUIPO website at the links below.

In the case of a registered European Union design, protection may be obtained by registering the design on the basis of an application to the EUIPO, following the regular procedure.

Like national protection, a registered EU design confers on the right holder the exclusive right to use the design, i.e. to make, offer, place on the market or use, import, export or stock the product incorporating the design, to create, download, copy, share or distribute to others any medium or software in which the design is incorporated for the purpose of enabling the product and to prevent others from doing so with products embodying the design which do not make a different overall impression.

As with national protection, a registered EU design lasts for 5 years from the date of filing with the EUIPO, and can be renewed 4 more times for a further 5 to 5 years, up to a total term of 25 years of EU protection.

In the context of EU design protection, it is important to note that the EUIPO does not conduct a novelty search during the examination, but presumes novelty and individual character. For this reason, although the procedure may be faster, invalidity proceedings often occur after protection has been obtained.

More details on how to obtain protection can be found on the EUIPO website at the links below.