First referral to the European Court of Justice regarding designs
For the first time, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has been asked questions on the correct application of European law in relation to Community designs. In this regard, the Community Design Court of Spain referred a number of questions to the ECJ regarding the determination of the ownership of designs.
The relevant EU law provides that where a design was developed by an employee in the execution of his duties or following the instructions given by his employer, the right to the Community design shall vest in the employer, unless otherwise agreed or specified under national law.
In the judgement now issued by the ECJ, it has been confirmed that this provision
does not extend to commissions. Therefore the automatic transfer of rights only
occurs where there is an employment relationship of the type where the designer is
bound by a contract governed by employment law. The possibility for a nonemployed
designer to assign his rights remains, however, and such an assignment
contract should be considered under national law.
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