Intellectual Property rights are territorial, what means that they provide a unique scope of protection in each country. EU member countries decided to be bound by common, harmonized rules set at the EU level to enable quicker and more efficient registration system effective in all countries at once and one unique right to the EU is the Registered Community Design “RCD”.
European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) gives everyone the possibility of applying for RCDs. RCDs give a brand owner an almost immediate right that can be enforced in the European Union. That’s 27 countries! Using Basck’s simple flat fee this works out at just 28 EUR per country.
Using the Basck streamlined process for registration of IP rights, your RCD will be registered in less than 48 hours.
Why should you apply for RCD?
The expedited nature of RCD’s, (compared to US design patents, for example), gives brand and product owners almost instant IP protection. RCDs can be overlooked but they are rapidly becoming useful tools to effectively shut down counterfeits in online marketplaces.
Relying upon unregistered designs is an expensive and unreliable brand/product protection strategy. Our clients with RCDs are able to secure licenses for third party use and halt sales of unlicensed product with little or no negotiation. To prove ownership of an unregistered design right is a lengthy and expensive process. It includes proving the time of the first disclosure of the design, the individual character of the design, demonstrating the date and scope of the disclosure, and providing solid evidence that your design has been in fact copied.
How long are RCDs protected?
The RCD protection is initially granted for 5 years so that is just 150 EUR a year with the Basck fixed fee (or 28 EUR in each country for the first five years)! and can be renewed for another 5-year periods upon payment of the renewal fees. RCD can be valid for up to 25 years and renewal fees are just 240 EUR for the first one up until 330 EUR for the last one, making RCDs one of the cheapest IP rights!
If you do not register your design and rely on unreliable unregistered rights in the EU, it will only be valid for up to 3 years from the date of the first disclosure.
What are the requirements for the registration?
You need to have a product that is new and individual in some way. This could be a new design of sports leggings, the cut of a gem stone or the zip of a hoodie.
We recommend to brand owners that they secure RCDs before launch on social media or sale of a product. This way, a brand owner has enforceable protection from first use. It’s not always possible of course to file before use and the good news is that brand owners have one year from first use (a picture on Instagram, for example) in the EU in which to file an RCD.
Basck offers a fixed pricing on drafting, filing and prosecution of RCDs of 750 EUR. Our fixed fee includes a design with multiple embodiments. Reach out to Adrianna (adrianna@basck.com) or complete our contact form below to learn more.
