MAIN FEATURES OF THE HARMONIZED EUROPEAN DESIGN LAW
MAIN FEATURES OF THE HARMONIZED EUROPEAN DESIGN LAW

Summary/Abstract: Product design has basic importance in highly competitive markets. Well designed, aesthetic products are favoured by buyers. Thus design is considered a marketing tool most radically in the USA. It is obvious that companies and authors are interested in effective legal protection against illegal imitation. The International Chamber of Commerce (IIC) estimates that imitations and counterfeit products account for roughly 5-8 per cent of world trade and the direct and indirect damage could be as much as 60-100 billion US dollars per year. A sad consequence is also the 70.000 jobs that are lost each year. By the end of the 19.th century countries recognized that design protection on a national level is incapable of stopping illegal activity. For this reason international agreements such as the Paris Convention in 1909 were signed. The need for harmonizing design law in Europe appeared in the 60’s. The European Court also faced the problem of market distortion caused by intellectual privilege in its practice. The European institutions issued the Design Directive in 1998 (98/71/EC) to harmonize the most substantial elements of national design laws throughout Europe after long theoretical debates. The task is current as the Commission may carry out an analysis within 3 years of the implementation deadline (28.10.2001.) and that expires this year. The Commission has already issued a proposal for an amendment on the Directive in September 2004 concerning spare parts. I aim to give an outline of the main characteristics of the harmonization directive in my essay focusing on the definitions compared with the notions of former national design laws. I will also refer to the questions of copyright protection for designs since the relationship between the two forms of protection is regulated by the directive. However I will not examine in this article the Community Design Law (Regulation No 6/2002) what is based on the notions of the Directive but contains detailed ruling on the transfer of rights, procedure etc.

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