PROTECTING YOUR BRAND WITH RCD
Consumer businesses are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of protecting their brands through the Registered Community Design (RCD) in addition to the more widely used Community Trade Mark (CTM).
The trade mark and design registration systems in Europe have a number of common characteristics and can be used in conjunction with each other to strengthen the protection of branded products.
A recent case in Spain involved Louis Vuitton and Calvin Klein acting jointly, using their respective RCDs against an individual who had registered designs in Spain that combined their respective logos. The Spanish registration for the designs was held to be invalid on the basis that it used the famous fashion houses’ distinctive signs.
Brand owners continually attempt to use the trade mark system as a way of protecting the shape of their goods and packaging as well as the brand itself. However, it is often the case that these may be better protected by the RCD, which offers considerably broader protection for new designs than its equivalent in many other jurisdictions.
RCDs may be used to protect a three-dimensional design, such as an article, as well as two-dimensional designs, such as surface pattern, character images or logos.
In addition to its wide scope, registration of community designs is a more efficient and inexpensive process than registration of CTMs. There is no substantive examination process and no formal opposition period.
Although protection is limited to a maximum of twenty years, it is possible to subsequently, or contemporaneously, register it as a CTM perhaps even obtaining acquired distinctiveness in the meantime.
It may not always be appropriate to secure protection of brands through both the RCD and CTM, but it is always worth evaluating the overall benefits and objectives of the two regimes and, where a business is seeking to protect its packaging or get-up, considering whether the RCD route would be more suitable.
For further information, contact:
Conan Chitman
+44 (0)20 7440 7110
conan.chitham@mishcon.com