German registered designs are governed by the Design Act, which was recently renamed to reflect the fact that German registered designs are now officially called ‘designs’, rather than the previously used ‘aesthetical models’. This is an interesting inconsistency in German law
Protecting and enforcing design rights: Germany | World Trademark Review worldtrademarkreview.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from worldtrademarkreview.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com.
Fashion houses and clothing companies used to enjoy protection
in both the UK and EU27 countries under Registered and Unregistered
Community Designs (RCDs and UCDs). Now the Brexit transition period
is over, such RCDs and UCDs no longer extend to the UK. Below, we
take a look at some of the changes to design protection which the
fashion industry may encounter now the UK is outside the EU s
designs regime.
Unregistered Designs
UCDs provide automatic, short-term, EU-wide protection against
copying for new designs. This protection is accrued upon the first
UK IPO ) will create a comparable
trade mark for each EU trade mark
( EUTM ) which is existing and valid at
that time. The comparable trade mark will mirror the original
EUTM s filing and registration dates, preserving the mark s
seniority. The comparable trade mark, as a national UK trade mark,
will need to be maintained as such under the UK IPO s
authority.
Pending EU trade marks
For EUTMs which are still pending as at Completion Day, the
owner of the EUTM application has a nine-month window (up to and
including 30 September 2021) in which they can apply for a UK trade
mark that, if granted will have the same filing, priority and