"Legal context: In 2003, Council Regulation 6/2002 on Community designs set in motion the Registered Community Design, an IP right that is relatively easy to obtain thanks to the fact that there is no ex-officio novelty examination and to the swift and fast registration procedure. According to the regulation, problems with conflicting design or other rights are solved after registration once they effectively occur. The Community legislator followed the wishes of the European industry and after more than 5 years of experience, the fairly low number of design invalidity claims seems to confirm that this decision was a good one.

Key points: So far, only six design invalidity cases have been presented to the CFI. The basic underlying concepts of the Community Design right are at the core of these cases: the concept of the informed user, the degree of freedom of the designer, the use of proofs, the conflict between designs and trade marks, etc.

Practical significance: The RCD being still a young right, the interpretation of these concepts is of utmost importance for practitioners. The article contributes to the general debate on interpretation".