Members of the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) voted in favour of the two texts revising the system of legal protection for industrial designs on Tuesday 24 October.
The rapporteur for the two texts, Gilles Lebreton (ID, French), said he was “very much in favour of the Commission’s proposal, which has the merit of adapting design protection to the emergence of new technologies such as 3D printing”. A number of compromise amendments were passed by MEPs, the majority of which were aimed at “clarifying certain passages of the text”.
Presented by the Commission in November 2022, this new legislation aims in particular to simplify and rationalise the procedure for registering a design at EU level, as well as harmonising procedures and ensuring complementarity with national protection systems.
For its part, the Council adopted its position (‘general approach’) on 25 September, slightly amending the Commission’s two original texts, particularly with regard to registration procedures and clarifying the terms ‘design’ and ‘product’ to make them “better adapted” to the digital age.
Parliament is expected to vote on both texts at its November plenary session before inter-institutional negotiations can get underway. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)