NETHERLANDS LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Friederike Henke, Ingrid Cools, Philip ter Burg, IJsbrand Uljée, Suzan van de Kam and Epke Spijkerman, BUREN
which the design was first made available to the public within the territory of the European Union. After the expiry of these three years, protection cannot be extended. Further to the Amending Regulation, member states are no longer able to provide unregistered design protection on a national level. Unregistered design protection will now only be available across the EU in the form of a Unregistered European Union Design. At a national level, only registered design protec - tion will be available. In the case of design right infringements, the owners can claim injunctive relief, rendering of account, damages, product recall and even destruction of the infringing goods. Benelux design protection is enforceable through civil courts. The district court of The Hague has a chamber of judges specialising in IP law, and has exclusive jurisdiction for litigation related to EU designs. Simultaneously with the Amending Regulation, Directive (EU) 2024/2823 on the legal protec - tion of designs came in into force. EU member states have 36 months, until 9 December 2027, to transpose the Directive it into their national legislation, ie, in the Benelux in the Benelux Con - vention on Intellectual Property (trade marks and designs). The Amending Regulation and Direc - tive aim to: • modernise, clarify and strengthen design protection; • improve accessibility of design protection in the EU; • ensure enhanced interoperability of design protection systems in the EU; and • harmonise the diverging spare parts protec - tion regime across the EU.
The Regulation will make it possible to com - bine multiple designs within the same European Union Design application (to a maximum of 50), regardless of whether they fall under the same Locarno Class, effectively allowing for a “bulk discount” on registration fees. 7.4 Copyright The Dutch Copyright Act ( Auteurswet ) imple - ments the harmonised standards set forth by EU copyright law. Many of the EU directives reflect EU member states’ obligations under the Berne Convention and the Rome Convention, as well as the obligations of the EU and its mem - ber states under the World Trade Organisation “TRIPS” Agreement and the two 1996 World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Inter - net Treaties (the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty). The Copyright Act automatically protects the copyright of works of literature, science or art from the moment the work is created, on the condition that the work in question is an original work. The term ”work” embraces many mate - rials, such as books, brochures, films, photo - graphs, musical works, works of visual art and geographical maps. Software is also protected under the Copyright Act. A work must be “the author’s own intellectual creation” in order to qualify for copyright protection. Upon the death of the author, the copyright automatically devolves to the heirs. Copyright ends 70 years after the death of the work’s crea - tor. Copyright owners have the exclusive right to publish and copy the copyrighted works, including translations. The Dutch Copyright Act stipulates that employers own the copyrights in works created by employees in the course of their employment.
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