Exterior design refers to the external appearance of a product or a part thereof, including lines, contours, colors, shapes, surface structures, materials, and/or decorations.

EU design, also known as "Community Design", is a unified design right that is valid throughout all 27 member states of the European Union. At present, the European Union includes 27 member states, namely Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Cyprus (CY), Czech Republic (CZ), Germany (DE), Denmark (DK), Estonia (EE), Spain (ES), Finland (FI), France (FR), United Kingdom (GB), Greece (GR), Hungary (HU), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Latvia (LV), Malta (MT), Netherlands (NL), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Sweden (SE), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK). The sentence is:.

The EU design system is regulated by Council Regulation (EC) No. 6/2002 on Community Designs.

EU exterior design needs to meet the requirements of novelty and uniqueness. Novelty refers to the absence of identical (or only differing in minor details) exterior designs that have been publicly disclosed prior to the relevant date. Uniqueness refers to the overall feeling left by the appearance design to well-informed users, which is different from the overall feeling left to users by other appearance designs disclosed before the relevant date. The determination of the relevant date depends on whether the design is registered or unregistered.

2. Registered and unregistered designs

EU design is divided into two types: Registered Community Design (RCD) and Unregistered Community Design (UCD).

Registered designs need to be applied for and granted a certificate of rights by the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) located in Alicante, Spain. Starting from the sixth year of the application date, an extension fee is required to be paid every five years, with a maximum term of 25 years. The relevant date for determining the novelty and uniqueness of a registered design is the application date or priority date. Within the first 12 months of submitting the application, if the design is made public due to the actions of the designer or successor in rights, it will not impair novelty and uniqueness (i.e. enjoy a grace period of 12 months). In addition, if the design has already been first applied for elsewhere and an EU registered design application has been submitted to the EU Internal Market Coordination Office within six months after the first application, priority can be enjoyed. The filing date of the first application becomes the priority date of the EU registered design application, and this priority date becomes the relevant date for determining novelty and uniqueness. Registered design can prevent infringement of all similar product appearances, even if similar product appearances were independently developed without knowledge of the existence of registered design.

The term of non registered design rights is limited to three years and cannot be extended after expiration, starting from the moment the design is first known to the public within the European Union. The formation of non registered design rights is only through public disclosure within the European Union, without the need to submit any application. The relevant date for determining the novelty and uniqueness of a non registered design is the date when the design is first known to the public within the European Union. Non registered design can only prevent malicious copying by others.

3. Application Procedure for Registered Design

The application process for EU registered design can be roughly divided into submission stage, examination stage, and registration stage.

The time from submitting the application to obtaining the authorization certificate for a registered design is approximately three months, and under the accelerated procedure, it usually takes six weeks. But there are also cases where authorization certificates are obtained within one or two weeks.

For applicants who do not have a domicile, main place of business, or a genuine and valid business entity within the EU, all procedures of the EU Internal Market Coordination Agency must be represented by a qualified agent within the EU, in addition to submitting the application.

We submit our application through online application, and on the day of submission, we can receive a notification of acceptance of the application containing information such as the application number from the Internal Market Coordination Office of the European Union.

In general, if priority is not required, the applicant needs to provide us with the following materials:

When the applicant is a natural person, their English name, address, and nationality; When the applicant is a legal entity, the English name and address

Designer's English name

English product description

At least one and up to seven images or photos reflecting the exterior design, each stored in a separate JPEG format file of no more than 5MB, with a size of no more than 17 cm x 24 cm and 2008 x 2835 pixels

Priority can be claimed at the time of application submission or within one month from the date of application. If priority is required when submitting the application, the applicant needs to provide the country and date of the first application, and within three months from the date of application, submit a copy of the first application or its registration certificate certified by the government authority that applied for the first time (such as the China National Intellectual Property Administration of China), as well as a certificate indicating the application number and application date of the first application.

After submitting a registered design application, the Internal Market Coordination Office of the European Union will conduct a formal examination (such as whether fees have been paid, whether the submitted forms are complete, etc.), and review whether the registered subject matter meets the definition of "design" and whether its features violate social morality or public policy, but will not conduct a substantive examination on novelty and uniqueness.

After the review is approved, the Internal Market Coordination Agency of the European Union will issue a registration certificate and make it public. If the review fails, and the decision of the European Internal Market Coordination Agency is not accepted, a written appeal can be filed with the European Internal Market Coordination Agency within two months of the decision being served.

In addition, an application can contain multiple designs (with no upper limit), but the multiple designs included should be applicable to the same category of products in the Locarno classification system.

4. Application fee for registered design

If an application only includes one design, the official application fee submitted online is 230 euros and the announcement fee is 120 euros. If it is a group application that includes multiple design elements, in addition to paying the fee for the first design element, additional fees must be paid for the other design elements. The official additional application fee for the second to tenth items is 115 euros per item, and the announcement fee is 60 euros per item. Starting from item 11, the official additional application fee is 50 euros per item, and the announcement fee is 30 euros per item.

The maximum term of rights for registered EU design is 25 years. After every five years of application submission, the validity of the rights can be maintained by paying an extension fee. At present, the official application fee for registered design is 230 euros, and the official extension fees after 5, 10, 15, and 20 years of application submission are 90, 120, 150, and 180 euros, respectively.