翻譯自：New developments in EU design protection – Phase I of new Design Package to enter into force on May 1, 2025 【作者：2K Patent- und Rechtsanwälte】
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The EU Commission has now finalized the so-called "Design Package" which will result in important changes of EU design law that will be presented hereinafter. No major changes to the overall system of design protection in the EU are to be expected. The owners of registered EU designs are advised to pay the renewal fees for all EU-designs with due-date in the period May to October 2025 before May 1, 2025. Introduction A EU design is an attractive IP right as it ensures uniform protection for designs for the whole of the EU at considerably low costs. A EU design will be registered without substantive examination. EU design law offers a very flexible filing strategy for applicants, such as the possibility to file collective design applications including a plurality of designs and to request deferred publication / registration of a design. The EU Commission has now finalized the so-called "Design Package" which will result in important changes of EU design law that will be presented hereinafter. The primary instrument initiating the legislative changes at EU level is the Amending Regulation (Regulation No. 2024/2822) which will enter into force in two phases, of which phase I will apply directly as of May 1, 2025. Most important changes for Applicants Changes of Fees (see also Annex) The application and publication fees will be combined into a single fee, which should lead to a simplification of the system. The initial fee for a design will remain the same at €350.-. In the case of a collective design application, there will only be a standardized fee of € 125.- for all additional designs from the 2nd design onwards. This leads to a reduction in fees for the 2nd to 10th design (old fee € 175.-) and a significant increase from € 80.- to € 125.- from the 11th design onwards. While standard collective applications including only a few designs will become cheaper, bulky collective applications including a high number of designs will become more expensive in future. The renewal fees will be significantly increased, as the EUIPO wishes that "inactive" designs are abandoned. This also holds for international registrations under the Hague Agreement. Renewal fee can be paid by up to 6 months in advance. It is therefore recommendable to pay the renewal fees for EU-designs with due-date in the period May to October 2025 before May 1, 2025. The fees for invalidity proceedings and appeal proceedings will be reduced. In addition, a number of formal fees, such as fees for transfers and file inspections, will be completely eliminated, which will further reduce the administrative burden and costs for design owners. These changes are aimed at making the system more efficient and cost-effective. Changes regarding collective design applications The Community Design Regulation did not provide for an upper limit of designs of a collective design application, which could lead to design applications including a very high number of designs. In the future, the number of designs that can be filed in a collective design application will be limited to a maximum of 50. Extension of the scope of protectionThe regulations contain new definitions for the terms "design" and "product" (cf. Art. 2 Design Directive and Art. 3 UDV), which should lead to a significant expansion of the scope of protection in practice. According to Art. 26 (1) of the Design Directive, the design must be represented visually in any form. The representation can be static, dynamic or animated and can be made by "any appropriate means using generally accessible technologies". In addition to drawings and photographs, videos or computer imaging and modeling are also explicitly mentioned. In future, new forms of appearance will be covered, for example dynamic, fluid or purely digital design representations, so that movements, changes of state or other forms of animation can also be part of the protection. However, the prerequisite remains that they can be visibly reproduced and made accessible to the public. The definition of a product will be expanded to the effect that in future not only physical but also purely digital objects will be explicitly covered. This means that digital spaces or digital objects can also be protected, which should be particularly relevant in practice for objects in the metaverse or in computer games as well as NFTs. However, computer programs are still excluded from the definition of a product - they must therefore still be assessed in accordance with copyright law. The following show examples for such new forms of appearance from a presentation of the EUIPO: |
歐盟委員會目前已完成所謂的「外觀設計整批改革方案」，這將使歐盟外觀設計法發生重要變化，下文將對此進行介紹。預計歐盟的整體外觀設計保護體系不會有重大變化。建議歐盟外觀設計的專利權人在2025年5月1日前，繳納2025年5月至10月間所有到期的歐盟外觀設計的維持費。 簡介 歐盟外觀設計是一項很有吸引力的智慧財產權，因為它可以以相當低的成本確保外觀設計在整個歐盟得到統一的保護。歐盟外觀設計無需經過實質審查即可註冊。歐盟外觀設計法為申請人提供了非常靈活的申請策略，例如可以提交包括多項設計的多重外觀設計申請，以及請求延緩公告及註冊。 歐盟委員會目前已完成所謂的「外觀設計整批改革法案」，這將使歐盟外觀設計法發生重要變化，下文將對此進行介紹。啟動歐盟層級立法變革的主要工具是修訂條例（條例第 2024/2822 號），該條例將分兩階段生效，其中第一階段將於2025年5月1日起直接生校。
對於申請人來說最重要的變化 規費調整 申請費和公告費將合併為一項費用，這將簡化系統。首件外觀設計的申請費用將保持不變，仍為350歐元。對於多重外觀設計申請案，從第二個設計開始，所有額外設計將支付統一規費125歐元。這將使第2至第10項設計的費用降低（舊規費為175歐元），但是從第11項設計開始，規費將從80歐元大幅增加到125歐元。雖然包含少量設計的多重外觀設計申請將變得更便宜，但包含大量設計的龐大多重外觀設計申請未來將變得更加昂貴。 由於歐盟智慧財產局希望「閒置的」外觀設計被放棄，因此後續維持費將大幅增加，這也適用於《海牙協定》下的國際設計註冊。維持費最早可提前6個月支付，因此，建議在2025年5月1日前，繳納2025年5月至10月間到期的歐盟外觀設計的維持費。 無效程序和上訴程序的費用將會降低。此外，轉讓費、檔案調閱費等多項形式程序費用將完全取消，這將進一步減輕外觀設計專利權人的行政負擔和成本。這些變化旨在使系統更有效率且更具成本效益。
關於多重外觀設計申請的變更 《共同體外觀設計條例》並未規定多重外觀設計申請的設計數量的上限，這導致多重外觀設計申請中包含的設計數量過多。未來，多重外觀設計申請中可提交的設計數量將被限制為最多50項。
擴大保護範圍 該法規對「設計」和「產品」一詞做出了新的定義（請參閱設計指令第2條和歐盟外觀設計條例第3條），這將讓實務上的保護範圍顯著擴大。根據設計指令第26（1）條規定，外觀設計必須以任何形式視覺上呈現。該呈現方式可以是靜態的、動態的或動畫的，並且設計呈現可以「使用普遍可取得的技術之任何適當方式」來實現。除了繪圖和照片外，還明確提到了影片或電腦成像和模型。 未來，新的外觀形式將受到保護，例如動態、流體或純數位的設計表現形式，因此運動、狀態變化或其他形式的動畫也可以成為保護的一部分。然而，前提條件是它們能夠被清晰地可見地被複製並供公眾使用。 產品的定義將會擴大，未來不僅會涵蓋實體對象，還會明確涵蓋純數位物件。這意味著數位空間或數位物件也可以受到保護，在實踐上與元宇宙或電腦遊戲以及NFT中的物件尤其相關。 然而，電腦程式仍然被排除在產品的定義之外—因此仍然必須根據著作權法進行評估。 以下為歐盟智慧財產局所展示的此類新外觀形式的範例： |
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moving video animation sequence 移動視訊動畫序列 |
purely digital (virtual) object 純數位（虛擬）對象 |
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digital room (view 1) 數位空間(圖1) |
digital room (view 2) 數位空間(圖2) |
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Filing of such new forms of designs will involve a much higher data volume. The EUIPO did not yet specify data formats or means for online submission of such new forms of designs. It appears that the EUIPO will also accept 3D-pdf files that can be freely rotated or 3D computer-animated design generating motion simulation. At last an animated sequence of 3D-views of a design should be acceptable. Promoting design protection The owners of a registered EU design or a registered national design may now also be allowed to draw attention to their IP rights by using the new registration symbol New Terminology The term “Community design” will be replaced by “EU design”. Hence, “registered Community design (RCD)” will be replaced by “registered EU design (REUD)”, and “unregistered Community design (CD)” will be replaced by “unregistered EU design (EUD)”. Most important changes to substantive law No general visibility requirement The appearance of the design is ultimately decisive for its scope of protection. In previous official practice and case law, the requirements for the visibility of the individual appearance features have been regularly discussed, in particular whether visibility is required in actual, normal use or whether it is sufficient if a feature can be recognized in the stored representations. The new regulations clarify that only design features that are visibly reproduced in the design application - not: in the use of the product or similar - enjoy protection (see Art. 15 Design Directive, Art. 18a UDV). Closing the protection gap for 3D printing technologiesThe previously applicable regulations were pushed to their limits by 3D printing technologies. For example, the mere sending of files to consumers, who then produced an infringing product using a 3D printer, could not be punished as a design infringement due to the lack of use of the appearance. This gap in protection is now to be closed. Under the new regulations, the owner of a design can also prohibit third parties from "creating, downloading, copying and sharing or distributing media or software with which the design is recorded in order to enable the manufacture of a [design-infringing] product [...]". However, it remains unclear what exactly is meant by the requirement of "recording the design". We will have to wait and see how the courts interpret the term in future. New repair clauseThe newly introduced mandatory repair clause, which is ultimately intended to liberalize the spare parts market and replace the previous transitional solution (Art. 19 Design Directive, Art. 20a UDV), will certainly bring about some changes. Another driver for the adoption of the much-discussed and much-criticized regulation was certainly the EU's so-called Green Deal and the hope for more sustainability and more resource-efficient products. In future, the repair clause will allow manufacturers of spare parts to use protected designs to produce and market so-called must-match spare parts that reproduce registered designs. However, the following cumulative requirements must be met: • it must be a component of a complex product; • the design of the component must depend on the appearance of the complex product ("must-match"); • the spare part may only be used for the purpose of repairing the complex product in order to return it to its original appearance; • Manufacturers or sellers of such spare parts must also inform consumers of the commercial origin and identity of the manufacturer of the product by means of clear and visible information on the spare part or in another suitable form. Fortunately, the new regulations clarify that only shaped components fall within the scope of the clause. This means that form-independent components are now explicitly excluded. The guidelines developed by case law on the previous regulations regarding the manufacturer's and seller's duty of care towards consumers should in principle also apply to the new repair clause. However, Art. 19 (3) of the Design Directive and Art. 20a (3) of the UDV provide some relief, according to which the supplier or manufacturer of the component is not obliged to ensure that the spare parts it sells are used by the end consumer exclusively for the purpose of repair. There are no major changes for Germany in this respect, as Section 40a of the Design Act already contains a regulation that is essentially identical in content. However, many other member states still have to introduce corresponding regulations, but they have 8 years to do so. Summary No major changes to the overall system of design protection in the EU is to be expected. The owners of registered EU designs are advised to pay the renewal fees for EU-designs with due-date in the period May to October 2025 before May 1, 2025 |
提交此類新形式的外觀設計將涉及更大的數據量。歐盟智慧財產局尚未具體說明此類新形式外觀設計的資料格式或線上提交方式。看來歐盟智慧財產局也將接受可自由旋轉的3D-pdf檔案或產生動作模擬的3D電腦動畫設計。最後，外觀設計的3D視圖動畫序列應該可以被接受。
促進外觀設計保護 現在，已註冊的歐盟外觀設計或已註冊的國家設計的專利權人也可以使用新的註冊符號 (如左圖，請參見原文) 來引起人們對其智慧財產權的關注。此註冊符號可顯示在採用或套用該外觀設計的產品上。歐盟和國家外觀設計的專利權人可以使用新的註冊符號，第三方在徵得其同意後也可以使用。
新術語 「共同體外觀設計(Community design)」一詞將被「歐盟外觀設計(EU design)」取代。因此，「註冊制共同體外觀設計（RCD）」將被「註冊制歐盟外觀設計（REUD）」取代，而「未註冊制共同體外觀設計（CD）」一詞將被「未註冊制歐盟外觀設計（EUD）」取代。 實體法最重要的變化 無一般可見性要求 設計的外觀最終決定了其保護範圍。在先前的官方實務和判例法中，對單一外觀特徵的可見性要求一直被定期討論，特別是在實際正常使用中是否須要可見性，或者如果可以在儲存的表示方式中識別出某個特徵是否就足夠了。 新法規明確規定，只有在外觀設計申請中被可見地重現的設計特徵–而不是在產品的使用或類似方式中–才會受到保護（參見外觀設計指令第15條、歐盟外觀設計條例第18a條）。
彌補3D列印技術的保護差距
3D列印技術將先前適用的法規推到了極限。例如，僅向消費者發送文件檔案，然後消費者使用3D列印機生產出侵權產品，由於未使用外觀，因此不能被視為設計侵權而受到懲罰。現在必須彌補這個保護的漏洞。根據新規定，外觀設計的專利權人還可以禁止第三方「創建、下載、複製、共享或發送記錄該外觀設計的媒體或軟體，以便製造『設計侵權』產品...」。 然而，「記錄外觀設計」的要求究竟意味著什麼仍不清楚。我們將拭目以待，看看未來法院將如何解釋這個術語。
新的維修條款 新推出的強制維修條款肯定會帶來一些變化，其最終目的是開放備用零組件市場，取代先前的過渡性解決方案（外觀設計指令第19條、歐盟外觀設計條例第20a條）。推動這項備受討論和批評的法規通過的另一個因素無疑是歐盟所謂的「綠色政綱」，以及人們對更永續、更資源高效產品的期望。 未來，維修條款將允許零組件製造商使用受保護的外觀設計來生產和銷售重製已註冊外觀設計的所謂必須匹配的零組件。然而，必須滿足以下要求： • 它必須是複雜產品組成的部分元件； • 零件的設計必須根據複雜產品的外觀（「必須匹配」）； • 備用零件僅可用於修復複雜產品，以使其恢復原狀； • 此類備用零件的製造商或銷售商也必須透過備用零件上清晰可見的資訊或以其他適當形式，告知消費者產品的商業來源和製造商身分。 幸運的是，新法規明確規定只有特定形狀的零組件才屬於該條款的範圍。這意味著現在明確排除與形狀無關的零組件。 先前法規中關於判例所產生的基準，關於製造商和銷售者對消費者的注意義務，原則上也應適用於新的維修條款。然而，外觀設計指令第19(3)條、歐盟外觀設計條例第20a(3)條提供了一些救濟，根據該條規定，零件供應商或製造商沒有義務確保其銷售的備用零件被終端消費者僅使用於維修目的。 德國在這方面規定沒有重大變化，因為《外觀設計法》第40a條已經包含了內容基本上相同的規定。不過，許多成員國仍需推出相應的法規，但他們有8年的時間來做這件事。
總結 預計歐盟的整體外觀設計保護體系不會有重大變化。建議已註冊的歐盟外觀設計專利權人在2025年5月1日前，繳納2025年5月至10月間到期的歐盟外觀設計的維持費。 |
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. This registration symbol may be displayed on the product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied. The new registration symbol can be used by owners of EU and national designs and, with their consent, by other parties. 
