Short answer
EU design law protects a product's appearance, whether physical or non-physical. The current Regulation includes graphical interfaces, symbols, patterns, spatial arrangements, movement, transitions and animation. Computer programs and solely functional features remain excluded.
A registered EU design can last 25 years in five-year periods and protects what the application visibly shows. An unregistered EU design arises on qualifying EU public disclosure, lasts three years and protects only against copying.
The registered right now reaches the creation, downloading, copying and distribution of a digital file or software that records the design to enable a product to be made. That makes design law relevant before a 3D-printed copy exists.
For spare parts, the repair clause excludes protection for an appearance-dependent component used solely to restore original appearance. Its seller must identify commercial origin and manufacturer. The EU rule is current; national reform is due by 9 December 2027 with defined grandfathering to 2032.
Two protection systems operate together
Regulation 6/2002, amended by Regulation 2024/2822, creates unitary registered and unregistered EU designs. Reforms applied generally from 1 May 2025, with specified procedures from 1 July 2026.
National registered designs coexist. As at 31 July 2026, Directive 98/71 and implementing laws remain the starting point. Member States must transpose recast Directive 2024/2823 by 9 December 2027, when Directive 98/71 is repealed. The recast is not yet uniform national private law.
What counts as a design or product?
Article 3 of the current EU Design Regulation defines a design through the appearance of a product or part. Relevant features include lines, contours, colours, shape, texture, materials and decoration, expressly:
“including the movement, transition or any other sort of animation of those features” —
A product can be physical or materialise in non-physical form. Examples include packaging, spatial arrangements, graphics, symbols, logos, patterns, typefaces and interfaces.
A chair shape, bottle decoration, screen layout, icon, transition or virtual product can qualify. Protection covers appearance, not source code, data, interaction methods or technical results.
The design must be new and produce a different overall impression on the informed user. Solely functional features are excluded. In DOCERAM, C-395/16, the Court held that technical function must be the feature's only determining factor; alternative designs are not decisive.
Registered protection depends on the representation
Registration creates an exclusive right, initially for five years and renewable up to 25.
The reform makes the boundary explicit:
“Protection shall be conferred for those features of the appearance of a registered EU design which are shown visibly in the application for registration.” —
The application needs a clear representation. For an interface or animation, the views must show claimed screens, states, movements or transitions consistently. A description cannot enlarge unclear visual subject matter.
In Mast-Jägermeister v EUIPO, C-217/17 P, the Court upheld refusal of a filing date where representations did not identify two claimed designs. It concerned earlier procedure but remains instructive.
Earlier disclosure, lack of individual character, functionality, unclear claims or earlier rights can still defeat registration.
Unregistered protection rewards disclosure but is narrower
An unregistered EU design lasts three years from qualifying EU public disclosure. There is no filing or renewal.
Only copying is prohibited; independent work by a designer reasonably thought unfamiliar with the design is not. Evidence of disclosure, authorship, copying and claimed features is critical.
In Ferrari, C-123/20, the Court confirmed that publishing product images can also disclose a design in a part or component without publishing that part separately, provided:
“the appearance of that part or component part is clearly identifiable at the time the design is made available.” —
The part must be a visible, defined section whose individual character can be assessed.
Interfaces and animation: protect the appearance, not the program
A graphical interface is expressly a product, and animation can shape appearance. A filing can target a screen, sequence or transition if represented clearly.
The program exclusion leaves code, algorithms and functionality outside. A GUI registration does not cover every later screen; scope follows the visible claim and overall impression.
Other rights can overlap. A screen graphic might qualify for copyright; a logo may be a trade mark; a technical process may implicate patent law. Each right has its own conditions and scope.
3D printing: the digital file can be an infringing act
The registered right covers making, offering, marketing, importing, exporting, using and stocking a product carrying the design. Since the 2025 reform, prohibited uses can also include:
“creating, downloading, copying and sharing or distributing to others any medium or software which records the design” —
The file must enable the protected product to be made. A CAD file can therefore infringe before printing, but is not automatically a separately registered product design.
Article 20 still limits private, experimental, teaching, reference, comment, critique and parody acts. Unregistered protection still requires copying.
Spare parts: visibility and repair answer different questions
A complex-product component must remain visible during normal end-user use; maintenance, servicing and repair are excluded. Its visible features must independently qualify.
Article 20a excludes an appearance-dependent component used solely to repair the product and restore original appearance. It is not a licence for accessories, upgrades or altered-looking parts.
The manufacturer or seller must clearly identify commercial origin and manufacturer, but need not guarantee the end user's conduct.
The Court's 2017 judgment in joined Cases C-397/16 and C-435/16, Acacia, interpreted the former transitional clause. It required replacement parts to reproduce the original visual appearance and recognised supplier diligence regarding downstream use. The new Article 20a now controls and narrows the statutory category to appearance-dependent parts while codifying consumer-origin information and the absence of an absolute guarantee.
National rights have a longer transition. Member States must transpose the recast repair clause by 9 December 2027. Where national law protected such component designs on 8 December 2024, it must continue that protection until 9 December 2032 for designs applied for before 8 December 2024. Trade marks, copyright, patents, passing-off rules and product-safety duties remain separate.
A practical protection check
- Decide whether EU-wide registration, national registration, unregistered protection or a combination fits the launch.
- Identify the precise visible features and exclude functionality, code and unclaimed matter.
- Search earlier designs before public disclosure or filing.
- Represent every claimed physical view, screen state or animation clearly and consistently.
- Preserve evidence of creation, ownership and first EU disclosure.
- For 3D-print enforcement, link the file to its purpose of making the protected product.
- For complex-product components, test visibility and repair-clause conditions separately.
- Mark replacement parts with clear commercial-origin and manufacturer information.
- Check filing dates and national transition rules rather than assuming the 2032 exception applies everywhere.
- Review overlapping copyright, trade mark, patent and unfair-competition rights independently.
Conclusion
EU design law now speaks directly to digital products. Physical shapes, graphical interfaces, animated transitions and other non-physical appearances can qualify if their visible features are new, distinctive and clearly claimed. Registered rights offer longer and broader protection; unregistered rights arise through EU disclosure but last only three years and require copying.
The reform also reaches design-enabling 3D-print files while limiting protection for appearance-dependent repair parts. The decisive facts are the representation, disclosure and filing dates, product or component type, visibility, copying, purpose of the digital file and whether a spare part truly restores the original appearance.
Sources
This article provides general legal information, not advice for a specific matter. Laws, facts and procedural deadlines may change the result. Follow the linked primary sources and obtain local advice before acting.