The EU design protects the appearance of a product or of a part of it, as determined by the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation.
A registered EU design has unitary character: a single application to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) leads to protection with equal effect throughout the European Union.
Requirements for protection
The design must be new and have individual character. It is new if no identical design was available to the public before the filing date (or priority date). It has individual character if the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced by any other design available to the public.
A disclosure made by you yourself (for example by showing the product on the market) does not prevent registration, provided that the application is filed within 12 months of the disclosure. So do not wait with your application.
Duration of protection
A design is registered for five years from the filing date and can be renewed for further periods of five years up to a total of 25 years.
A design that has been made available to the public within the Union also enjoys protection as an unregistered EU design for three years from its first disclosure. Registration gives the holder the exclusive right to use the design and to prevent its use by third parties without consent.
What else is useful to know
A multiple application can include up to 50 designs. Each of them can be examined and protected independently of the others.
When filing, you can request that publication of the registered design be deferred for up to 30 months. During this period the representation of the design is not made public.
Our fee and the official fees
We are happy to represent you from filing to registration of your EU design. As an EU design differs from a Bulgarian national design and from an international design application, we can also help you choose the most suitable route.
Depending on the client’s requirements, we can offer the EU design application from EUR 400 plus VAT. This includes the novelty search, the preparation and filing of the application with the EUIPO and the correspondence up to registration.
This is a „from“ price. Depending on the specifics of the case and the search, the fee may be higher. We agree the full fee with you in writing before we start work.
At your request and for a separate fee, we can have the graphic representations of the design prepared. The above fee does not include representation in the event of a refusal of the application.
In addition to our fee, the following fees are payable to the EUIPO:
- EUR 350 – application fee for one design;
- EUR 125 – for each further design in a multiple application;
- EUR 40 – if you request deferment of publication (and EUR 20 for each further design in a multiple application);
- renewal fees (per design): EUR 150 for the first five-year period, EUR 250 for the second, EUR 400 for the third and EUR 700 for the fourth.
All information is given without guarantee (as of October 2026). Official fees are set by the offices and may change; the current fee schedule applies.
Do you have a question about design protection in the European Union? Then simply contact us!
