Registered Community Designs

This article was taken from the Venner Shipley Newsletter edition 19.

The Registered Community Design system has proved to be very popular with our clients and we have been actively filing and obtaining Registered Community Designs at the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) since the system came into being some two years ago.

A Registered Community Design affords its owner protection for the shape and appearance of their designs in 25 countries of the European Union for a significantly smaller cost than would be incurred by filing individual national applications.

Our experience in using the new system has been encouraging and we have found that the vast majority of applications are being registered within 1-2 months with only relatively few exceptions. Venner Shipley also have the honour of filing (and winning!) the first appeal against an OHIM decision refusing an application for registration of a Community Design.

If you would like further information in relation to Registered Community Designs, please ask us for a copy of our guide, which is also available on our website.

Ian Grey 01 Jul 2005

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