What rights does the proprietor of a registered Community design have?

Subject to limited exceptions, the proprietor of a registered Community design has the exclusive right, within the European Union, to prevent unauthorised parties making, marketing, selling, importing, exporting, using or stocking products in which the design (or a design which does not produce a different overall impression on an informed user) has been incorporated, or to which it has been applied.

This right extends to any type of product, not just a product specified in a registered Community design application. For example, a registered Community design that specifies a toothbrush holder should be infringed by selling an umbrella stand which incorporates the design that has been registered. In contrast, a trade mark registration is generally infringed only where the trade mark has been used in relation to identical or similar goods or services to those covered by the registration. Accordingly, a registered Community design may offer useful protection in respect of a design that is incorporated into or applied to a wide variety of merchandise.

The rights granted by a registered Community design are limited by the principle of exhaustion of rights. Once a product has been placed on the market anywhere in the European Economic Area (EEA), by or with the consent of the proprietor of a registered Community design, the proprietor cannot generally rely on the registration to prevent subsequent dealings in the product within the EEA. For example, if the proprietor manufactures sunglasses incorporating the registered design and sells them in France, he cannot normally rely on the registered Community design to prevent another company purchasing the sunglasses in France, importing them into e.g. Spain and reselling them in Spain at a higher price. Note that this is also true with regard to resale in the UK (post-Brexit); however, the exhaustion agreement is not reciprocal and so if such a product was put on the market in the UK with consent, the intellectual property rights are not exhausted in the EEA. Accordingly, export of the product out of the UK into e.g. France or Spain would risk infringement of a design right there.