Design protection in Europe

Registering your design in the United Kingdom (UK) does not protect it elsewhere in the European Community (EC).

To protect your design throughout the EC, you can apply for a Registered Community Design (RCD) at the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM). Application details are available on their website. To get protection in individual EC countries, you must make a separate application to each country.

You can use your UK design application to claim priority when applying in the EC within 6 months of your UK application date. This means that your later application is treated as if you applied on the same date as in the UK.

Your design may have some automatic protection in the EC through Community Unregistered Design right and national copyright laws.

Your European application will cover the following countries

Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia , Slovenia,Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.

How long will the registration last?

Registered Community Designs are protected for a period of five years. They can be then renewed four times giving a maximum life of 25 years of protection.

Using us to file your application

You can file your application for a Registered Community Design with us, or you can file it direct with OHIM in Alicante, Spain.

The advantage of using us is that you will receive an earlier filing date (the day on which we receive your application form) and a filing receipt.

We charge a handling fee of GBP £15.The fee should be sent accompanied by our fee sheet FS3.

The rest of the application fees are payable in Euros and they should be paid direct to OHIM. A list of current fees is available on the OHIM website .