(29 April 2021) – The Commission launched today two public consultations delivering on its actions presented in the Intellectual property Action Plan.
The first consultation refers to industrial designs protection, that is to the rights which protect the appearance of a product resulting from its attributes such as shape, colours or materials.
The consultation seeks to obtain views of all those affected by design protection in Europe on selected issues, such as whether rules on spare parts protection should be changed, as well as potential policy options.
The second consultation refers to EU-wide protection of geographical indications for non-agricultural products (i.e. handicrafts and industrial goods). Geographical indications are names like Solingen knives, Herend Porcelain, which identify a product as originating from a specific place from which their peculiar characteristics derive.
For such products, the Commission intends to run a thorough assessment of the impact of the potential costs and benefits of creating an efficient and transparent EU geographical indication protection system.
Both public consultations will remain open until 22 July 2021 included.
More information (Industrial Design)