Article 11
Commencement and term of protection of the unregistered Community design
- A design which meets the requirements under Section 1
shall be protected by an unregistered Community design for a
period of three years as from the date on which the design was
first made available to the public within the Community.
- For the purpose of paragraph 1, a design shall be deemed
to have been made available to the public within the
Community if it has been published, exhibited, used in trade or
otherwise disclosed in such a way that, in the normal course of
business, these events could reasonably have become known to
the circles specialised in the sector concerned, operating within
the Community. The design shall not, however, be deemed to
have been made available to the public for the sole reason that
it has been disclosed to a third person under explicit or implicit
conditions of confidentiality.