A legislative revision of EU Designs entered into force on December 8, 2024; EU Member States will have 36 months to transpose it into their national law. This legislative revision includes a recast Directive on legal protection of designs and amended Regulations. The changes aim to harmonize procedures between European and national systems, and to modernize EU design protection to take into account digital designs and new technologies, including 3D printing. Notably, a new “repair clause” provision has been introduced, that will exempt from design protection the spare parts used for repair of complex products, such as spare parts for the car-repair sector.
