Ireland - Amendments to Design Law

Newsletters and Bulletins / August 2002 / Ireland

The Irish law relating to registered designs has been amended to implement the EU's directive on harmonization of design laws (see our March 1999 Newsletter).

Among the more significant changes are:

1) the increase of maximum duration of protection from fifteen years to twenty-five years as long as the registration is renewed every five years;

2) a change in the novelty requirements so that, subject to a one-year grace period for the designer's own publications, disclosure anywhere in the world is now relevant, as opposed to disclosure in Ireland as was previously the case;

3) for protection, the design will have to possess "individual character"; and

4) protection will be for the design as such rather than for the design as applied to any particular article.

Under transitional provisions, applicants whose applications were still pending on July 1, 2002 have the option of deciding whether they wish the old or new law to apply. Designs registered before July 1 will continue to be governed by the old law. Applications filed on or after July 1 will be governed by the new law.

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