Legal provisions of COM(2005)689 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and (EC) No 40/94 to give effect to the accession of the EC to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement concerning the international registration of industrial designs

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dossier COM(2005)689 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 and (EC) No 40/94 to give effect to the accession of the EC to the Geneva Act of the ...
document COM(2005)689 EN
date December 18, 2006

Contents

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 is amended as follows:

1. Article 25(1)(d) is replaced by the following:

“(d) if the Community design is in conflict with a prior design which has been made available to the public after the date of filing of the application or, if priority is claimed, the date of priority of the Community design, and which is protected from a date prior to the said date

i) by a registered Community design or an application for such a design, or

ii) by a registered design right of a Member State, or by an application for such a right, or

iii) by a design right registered under the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement concerning the international registration of industrial designs, adopted in Geneva on 2 July 1999, hereinafter referred to as “the Geneva Act”, which was approved by Council Decision [….] and which has effect in the Community, or by an application for such a right;"

2. The following title is inserted after title XI:

“TITLE XIa:

INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION OF DESIGNS

SECTION 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS


Article 106 - a Application of provisions

1. Unless otherwise specified in this title, this Regulation and any Regulations implementing this Regulation adopted pursuant to Article 109 shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to registrations in the international register maintained by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (hereinafter referred to as “international registration” and “the International Bureau”) designating the Community, under the Geneva Act.

2. Any recording of an international registration designating the Community in the International Register shall have the same effect as if it had been made in the register of Community designs of the Office, and any publication of an international registration designating the Community in the Bulletin of the International Bureau shall have the same effect as if it had been published in the Community Designs Bulletin.

SECTION 2 - INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATIONS DESIGNATING THE COMMUNITY


Article 106 - b Procedure for filing the international application

International applications pursuant to Article 4(1) of the Geneva Act shall be filed directly at the International Bureau.

Article 106 - c Designation fees

The prescribed designation fees referred to in Article 7(1) of the Geneva Act are replaced by an individual designation fee.

Article 106 - d Effects of international registration designating the European Community

1. An international registration designating the Community shall, from the date of its registration, have the same effect as an application for a registered Community design.

2. If no refusal has been notified or if any such refusal has been withdrawn, the international registration of a design designating the Community shall, from the date referred to in paragraph 1, have the same effect as the registration of a design as a registered Community design.

3. The Office shall provide information on international registrations referred to in paragraph 2, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the Implementing Regulation.

Article 106 - e Grounds for refusal

1. The Office shall communicate to the International Bureau a notification of refusal not later than six months from the date of publication of the international registration, if in carrying out an examination of an international registration, the Office notices that the design for which protection is sought does not correspond to the definition under Article 3(a), or is contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality.

The notification shall state the grounds on which the refusal is based.

2. The refusal of the effects of an international registration in the Community shall not become final before the holder has been allowed the opportunity of renouncing the international registration in respect of the Community or of submitting observations.

3. The conditions for the examination as to the grounds for refusal shall be laid down in the Implementing Regulation.

Article 106 - f Invalidation of the effects of an international registration

1. The effects of an international registration in the Community may be declared invalid partly or in whole in accordance with the procedure in Titles VI and VII or by a Community design court on the basis of a counterclaim in infringement proceedings.

2. If the Office is aware of the invalidation, it shall notify it to the International Bureau."

Article 2

Article 134(3) of Regulation (EC) No 40/94 is replaced by the following:

“3. Revenue shall comprise, without prejudice to other types of income, total fees payable under the fees regulations, total fees payable under the Madrid Protocol referred to in Article 140 of this Regulation for an international registration designating the European Communities and other payments made to Contracting Parties to the Madrid Protocol, total fees payable under the Geneva Act referred to in Article 106c of Regulation (EC) No 2002/6 for an international registration designating the European Community and other payments made to Contracting Parties to the Geneva Act, and, to the extend necessary, a subsidy entered against a specific heading of the general budget of the European Communities, Commission section”.

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the date on which the Geneva Act enters into force with respect to the European Community.

The date of entry into force of this Regulation shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union .

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.