Starting from 1 May 2025, significant changes to the European Union design protection system will come into effect, following the EU design reform. While the reform covers various aspects – from digital representation formats to enhanced enforcement – the most notable changes for businesses and designers are the restructuring of fees and the new conditions for filing multiple designs in a single application.

Fee Structure is Changing

As part of the EU design reform, new application and renewal fees will be introduced to make the system more transparent and proportionate:

• Registering a single design will become cheaper, encouraging small businesses and individual designers to access protection more easily.

• Tiered pricing will apply to multiple design applications – each additional design will incur a separate fee (previously, additional designs within a single application were significantly discounted).

• Renewal fees will be adjusted according to the new structure and will depend on both the number of designs and the duration of the renewal.

Multiple Applications Without Class Limitation

One practical and important change concerns the structure of multiple applications:

• Starting 1 May 2025, the requirement for all designs in a multiple application to belong to the same Locarno (product) class will be removed, although for administrative simplicity, there will be a cap of 50 designs per multiple application.

This means that a company can include, for example, a piece of furniture, a packaging design, and a user interface design in a single application – previously, separate applications were required for each product class.

This update simplifies the process for businesses with diverse design portfolios.

What Does This Mean in Practice?

If your company registers multiple designs at once, now is the time to assess when it makes sense to file applications separately or together – considering the new fee structure and increased flexibility in design types.

Even though the multiple application option is expanding, it may not always be the cheaper route – especially if you’re submitting a high number of designs.

When renewing a design, be aware of the new fee structure and deadlines – renewal fees will increase. The fee depends on the moment the renewal request is submitted, so we recommend checking whether EU designs can still be renewed before 1 May 2025 to benefit from the current (lower) fees.

Overview of the Changes by the EUIPO:

https://www.euipo.europa.eu/en/designs/design-reform-hub/terminology-procedural-changes

Want to know how these changes might affect your design registrations or budget? Contact us – Pärn & Partners Patent Bureau OÜ will help you adapt your design protection strategy to the new rules.