Registered Community Design (RCD)

Georg Pintz and Partners LLC is a patent attorney firm that files design applications regularly in the EU - mainly for applicants from outside the EU, for these applicants a local represntative will be required by OHIM during the registration process.

For a design application applied for by a natural or legal person not having either their domicile or their principal place of business or a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in the EU, the applicant does not need to be represented to send an application for registration to the OHIM. However, representation will be required at a later stage. (If a representative has not been appointed, the applicant will be requested by OHIM in the examination report to do so and a time limit of two months will be given. If the applicant does not appoint a representative in due time, the application will be refused.)
 
The filing of an authorisation (POA) is not required.

Although any company or natural person established within the EU in practice does not need to be represented, professional representatives file in about 91% of the cases, as they are experienced in the relevant legislation.

The service fees of Georg Pintz and Partners LLC can be found under the Business Conditions.

If you wish to file a design in the EU with our help, please send us an email to the address found under contact information.

The registered Community design (RCD)

An RCD is an exclusive right for the outward appearance of a product or part of it, resulting from the features (in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials) of the product itself and/or its ornamentation. We can say it is the European equivalent of a US 'design patent'.

Scope and validity

An RCD is valid in the European Union as a whole. It is not possible to limit the geographic scope of protection to certain Member States.

An RCD initially has a life of 5 years from the date of filing and can be renewed in periods of five years up to a maximum of 25 years.

Level of protection

Holders of valid registered designs have exclusive rights to use the design concerned and to prevent any third party from using it anywhere within the European Union. They will be protected against both deliberate copying and the independent development of a similar design.

The rights cover, in particular, the making, offering, marketing, importing, exporting or use of a product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied, or holding stock of such a product for those purposes.

Its value

A single legal system applies to Community designs, providing strong and uniform protection throughout the European Union.

The RCD system consists of a simple registration procedure:
- a single application
- a single language of filing
- a single administrative centre
- a single file to be managed
- a single payment
- the possibility to file multiple applications (i.e. to include several designs in one application, such as a whole range of similar products)
- the possibility to keep the design confidential for up to 30 months

During the examination, the applications are checked mainly for formalities (e.g. no search for novelty). This is completed quickly by OHIM, the entire registration process takes only 1-2 weeks from filing.
 
The RCD confers on its holder the exclusive right to use it in the 27 Member States of the European Union. It prevents any third party of using the RCD without the consent of the holder.

After any future enlargement of the European Union, any RCD registered or applied for will automatically be extended to the new enlarged territory without any need to make any application or pay fees.

Enforcing your rights

The registered Community design (RCD) grants its proprietor an exclusive right to prevent unauthorised use of the design in trade. More specifically, the proprietor is entitled to prevent an unauthorised third party from making, offering, marketing, importing, exporting or using a product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied, or holding stock of such a product for those purposes.

If an unauthorised third party engages in any of these practices, they are guilty of infringing the exclusive right of the proprietor.

The proprietor of a RCD can act against these infringements by taking measures expressly provided for disputes concerning the infringement and validity of Community designs under the CDR (Section 2 of Title IX) and in particular via:
1. Proceedings at the Community design courts established under the CDR
2. Filing requests for action with the customs authorities. This administrative procedure permits proprietors of a RCD to request the EU customs authorities to retain suspected counterfeit goods while under their control