The design

According to Section 2(1) of the German Design Act (Designgesetz - DesignG), a design can be protected insofar as it is new and has individual character.
A design is considered to be new if prior to its date of filing no design of identical appearance has been disclosed, exhibited, used commercially, or otherwise made publicly available, or if by that date informed circles in the industry concerned who work in the Community could not have become aware of that design in their usual course of business. The design shall not, however, be deemed to have been made available to the public merely because it has been disclosed to a third person solely under conditions of explicit or implicit confidentiality.
A design is considered to have individual character if the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced on that user by any other design that has already been made available to the public. The designer’s originality in developing the design shall be taken into consideration in assessing individual character.

The protection of designs in Germany

In Germany, a design is protected once it has been entered in the German Patent and Trade Mark Office’s (DPMA) register. As with utility models, designs are unexamined intellectual property rights. The German Patent and Trade Mark Office does no more than verify whether the appearance of a specific product can indeed be protected as a design. The substantive requirements for protection (novelty, individual character), however, are not examined.

The protection of designs in the EU and other countries

The scope of protection conferred by a design on a product can extend to all EU Member States if it is registered at the same time with the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market in Alicante as a Community design. In addition, the appearance of a product can achieve protection in many countries worldwide if it is registered as an international design with the World Industrial Property Organisation (WIPO) located in Geneva.

Many businesses have submitted applications for action by the customs authorities in order to protect their designs.