‘Multi-part’ registered design applications

Filing registered designs in UK & European jurisdictions

Under both the UK and Community (European) registered design systems it is possible to file several designs within a ‘multi-part’ application simultaneously. In the UK and Europe, the cost per design within the ‘multi-part’ application reduces with the number of designs.

For example, applicants may file an unlimited number of designs within a ‘multi-part’ application. In most cases, in order to be eligible to do so, it is required that every design in the ‘multi-part’ application is in a common official classification (e.g. the classification ‘electronic devices with screens’).

In this way, applicants are not penalised for filing large volumes of registered design applications in the UK and Europe. Quite contrarily, prolific designers and applicants looking to cascade protection for their designs may do so in a cost-efficient manner compared to other jurisdictions in which costs scale directly with the number of applications filed.

In Europe the official filings costs for the second to tenth designs within a ‘multi-part’ design application are half that of the first. Likewise, the cost for every design after the 10th is a quarter of the first.