Community design law; principles and practice

The Community Design Regulation came into force on 6 March 2002, implementing the 1998 Designs Directive. The Regulation sets up a simpler and less expensive procedure for registering designs with the OHIM in Alicante and also protects unregistered designs. It will significantly increase the importance of design-related intellectual property work. This new text provides a detailed, article-by-article commentary on the Directive and the Regulation, steering practitioners through the provisions which are the biggest change in European designs law for more than a century.