Protection of industrial designs and models
On 13 March 1997, the Council of the European Union (Internal Market Ministers) reached political agreement on a common position on the proposed Directive concerning the protection of industrial designs and models. The Directive, first proposed in December 1993 and amended in February 1996, would approximate national laws on the protection of designs. The Directive would in particular: - Define what constitutes a "design"; - Establish criteria for protection (a design would have to be new and have an individual character) - Fix the duration of protection (minimum of five years and maximum of 25 years); - Fix the scope of protection (the designer would have the exclusive right to use the design and prevent any third party from using it); - Establish limits to the design right (e.g. it would not normally cover inter-connections between components); - Establish rules on the nullity of the registration of a design; - Provide that specific legislation on the protection of designs would co-exist with existing Member State systems for protecting designs, for example under copyright, trade mark or patent law. Equivalent provisions for protection of designs under Community law, whereby a design could qualify for protection throughout the EU with a single registration at a Community Design Office, would be established by a proposal for a Regulation also put forward in December 1993. The Council's agreement has received a qualified welcome from Mr. Mario Monti, Commissioner responsible for the Single Market, who expressed his regret that the Council had decided to drop the Commission's proposed "repair clause" which would allow for visible car parts to be freely reproduced by independent parts manufacturers on the condition that they pay a "fair and reasonable" remuneration to the car manufacturer.