(Publ. 8 FEB 2017) News from our Alicante office:

The European Union Intellectual Property Office, EUIPO, has created a new tool in order make the searches of designs easier. 15,000 product indicators is the base for this tool. The project is called DesignClass and has been launched in two phases; Phase 1 in November 2015 and Phase 2 in January 2017.

Since it is not easy to do database searches through pictures of products, the new system is based on indicators describing the appearance of a product. These indicators will serve as a common language to describe the products’ appearance so that this becomes unison across the EU, and in the future also internationally. With the tool in place, searches among the registered design will be simplified. Both companies as well as intellectual property advisors and authorities will benefit from this.

The system is the result of a collaboration between 26 intellectual property offices together with WIPO and EUIPO. In the future, the idea is that these indicators will continuously be updated in order to meet the market and the technical developments.

Our consultant at the office in Alicante, Ruth Almaraz Palmero, has acted as an observer throughout the implementation of this project. She is an advocat and an expert on design protection at EU level and is also co-Chair in the AIPPI’s committee for design protection.