The aim of these articles is to keep our Clients and Associates updated about developments in the sector of Intellectual Property in general and our firm in particular. In this way, we wish to provide a broader view of the tools that the field of trade marks, domain names, patents, designs and related rights offers to entrepreneurs to enhance and protect their efforts in researching and developing new solutions and ideas.
The EU Design Reform Has Now Been Published
In our April 2024 issue we reported the formal adoption of the EU Design Reform by the EU Parliament and briefly discussed the most relevant changes introduced by this reform.
Now, both the Regulation (EU) 2024/2822 amending Council Regulation No 6/2002 on Community designs and repealing Commission Regulation No 2246/2002 (the Amending Regulation) and Directive (EU) 2024/2823 on the legal protection of designs (the Recast Directive) were published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 18 November 2024 and will become effective 20 days after publication.
The Recast Directive provides for a period of 36 months, ending 9 December 2027, within which EU Member States will have to transpose the rules contained in the Directive into their own national laws.
The Amending Regulation, instead, provides for a two-phase implementation, i.e. most amendments, including terminology and structural changes as well as substantive changes, will become effective in Phase I starting 1 May 2025, i.e. on the first day of the month following 4 months after the date of entry into force of the Amending Regulation, whereas Phase II will begin 1 July 2026, i.e. on the first day of the month following 18 months after the date of entry into force of the Amending Regulation, and will cover other amendments for which further development through secondary legislation (Implementing and Delegated Regulations) is required.
We will be sharing with you the main novelties of the reform close to their coming into effect.