Article 4
Requirements for protection
- A design shall be protected by a Community design to
the extent that it is new and has individual character.
- A design applied to or incorporated in a product which
constitutes a component part of a complex product shall only
be considered to be new and to have individual character:
(a) if the component part, once it has been incorporated into
the complex product, remains visible during normal use of
the latter; and
(b) to the extent that those visible features of the component
part fulfil in themselves the requirements as to novelty and
individual character.
- ‘Normal use’ within the meaning of paragraph (2)(a) shall
mean use by the end user, excluding maintenance, servicing or
repair work.