Complicating designs: whither the EU reforms, and what impact will Brexit have?
David Stone recently shared his wisdom on the current and anticipated EU designs law changes with IPSoc members. IPSoc is the society for junior IP lawyers in the UK, you can find out more about joining IPSoc here . The current legal framework for designs in the EU dates back to 1998 (the Design Directive ) and 2001 (the Community Design Regulation ) . When the Regulation was introduced, the law was completely new. In practice, it was a combination of the law relating to designs of the 14 Member States (at that time) who had designs law within their national systems. For readers wondering what led to the design reforms and what happened next, David's handy summary of the history of the EU designs reforms is below. The reviews of designs law Th e EU has been evaluating the effectiveness of designs law. The purpose of this review is to check whether EU designs law : has achieved its objectives including efficiency, relevance and effectiveness. is still considered fit for p...