How to define designs and models within the meaning of the law?
According to the provisions of Article 3 of the Community Design Regulation dated December 12, 2001, designs and models can be defined as: “the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation”.
Similarly, Article L. 511-1 of the Intellectual Property Code defines designs and models as: “The appearance of a product, or part of a product, characterized in particular by its lines, contours, colors, shape, texture or materials, may be protected as a design. These features may be those of the product itself or its ornamentation.
A product is considered to be any industrial or handicraft item, including parts intended to be assembled into a complex product, packaging, presentations, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces, but excluding computer programs“.
Consequently, designs or models can be defined as creations presented in an aesthetic form whose characteristics can be lines, contours, colors, shape, texture or materials.
How are designs and models protected?
All designs or models are protected by copyright, by the mere fact of their creation, without the need for prior filing formalities.
However, only new designs or models having an individual character (the overall visual impression it produces on the informed observer differs from that produced by any design or model disclosed before the date of filing of the application for registration or before the priority date claimed) can be the subject, in addition to copyright protection, of protection by design law (Articles L.511-2 et seq. of the Intellectual Property Code).
To do this, an application for registration (reproduction of the design or model) must be filed with the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (INPI).
The registration of each design or model grants its holder the right to oppose any unauthorized exploitation of the design or model.
The filing also confers on the holder a certain date of creation and a presumption of ownership of the design or model. It is particularly on this point that the choice of protection by design law in addition to copyright protection presents a real interest.
Note that the duration of protection is 5 years from the date of filing, renewable for periods of 5 years up to a maximum of 25 years.
Finally, designs or models contrary to public policy and morality are excluded from protection.
Who holds the rights to a design or model?
In principle, the first person to file a design or model is presumed to be the creator. They are therefore the holder of the rights to the design or model.
Exploitation of the design or model?
The rights holder can freely exploit the design or model directly or indirectly. They may assign or license all or part of their rights to their creation for a limited period and a specific territory.
Note that the holder of a design or model is required to register in the National Register of Designs and Models all acts modifying or transferring rights attached to a design or model; otherwise, the acts in question will not be enforceable against third parties.
