The applicant must select the language of the application proceedings ("first language"), which may be any of the eleven official languages of the European Community (Spanish-ES, Danish-DA, German-DE, Greek-EL, English-EN, French-FR, Italian-IT, Dutch-NL, Portuguese-PT, Finnish-FI, Swedish-SV).
The applicant must also select a second language, which must be one of the five languages of the Office (English, French, German, Italian or Spanish) and which must be different from the first language. The second language will be used by the Office in communicating with the applicant or his representative where the first language is not one of the five languages of the Office.
A same application can include more than one design in the name of the same applicant, but all designs must be of the same class of Locarno. An exception is made to this principle of classification unity : a design for ornamentation may be filed with designs of another class.
For each design, we need to know the indication of the object to be protected. Preferably, one may use the wording of Locarno classification, in order to accelerate the prosecution. When another wording is used, the Examiner shall amend it without any notification, into a Locarno title and give the applicant's title for information. However, the title as filed will not be published in order to avoid its translation.
A brief description of each design may be provided, with a maximum of 100 words. However, the protection will be conferred only to the characteristics as represented : the optional description has no legal value and will not be published.
Each of the designs is represented by at least one view and a maximum of 7 views (for example : perspective view, front view, rear view, side views, top view, bottom view). The views may be in colour or in black and white (the official fee is the same).
The views have to be provided under the form of drawings or photographs. The designs shall be reproduced on a neutral background. The quality of the views shall permitt the reduction or enlargement to a size not more than 8 x 16 cm for the publication. You may provide us with images in .jpg form.
It is possible to limit the scope of protection to a particular piece of the design, for example by using dot lines to show the part of the design not protected.
Specimens as paper wall coverings, fabrics, etc., are authorized, with a thickness of no more than 3 mm, a size of no more than 26.2 x 17 cm and a weight of no more than 50 g. They shall be filed in 5 exemplaries.
It is possible to claim one or several priorities if the Community filing occurs within a six-month period from the priority filing.
A priority may be claimed from a filing within any State party to the Paris Convention or to the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization.
It is possible to file a pdf of the priority document, together with a translation in one of the official languages, or to simply indicate the DAS number.
If the priority document is in the name of another person, an assignment of the priority right is requested.
We need to have your instructions as to the immediate publication or the 30-month deferment of the publication.
Concerning the later possibility, we could add that a renouncement of the deferment may be filed with the payment of the publication fee at any time within a 27-month period from the filing date or the priority date. For a multiple-design filing, it is possible to defer only part of the designs and to request the late publication of the designs in several requests, as long as the request is filed within a 27-month period from the filing or priority date.
It is desirable to file the design with the secrecy provision (in other words with deferment of the publication) in order to date and protect the creation without revealing its existence to a competitor and without disclosing the design, which may be very important for the protection of the design in foreign countries (in case of a basic Community filing).
However, a certificate of registration will be delivered only after publication.
In case of a filing of specimen, the deferment is compulsory and a representation will have to be filed when requesting the publication.
The publication fee is due on the filing date for the designs requesting immediate publication.
When the publication is defered, a deferment fee has to be paid at the filing. The publication fee will have to be paid when requesting the publication.