The Economic Review of Industrial Design in Europe — Final Report
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The Economic Review of Industrial Design in Europe — Final Report MARKT/2013/064//D2/ST/OP January 2015 - 1 - The information and views set out in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the Commission. The Commission does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this study. Neither the Commission nor any person acting on the Commission’s behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein. Europe Economics is registered in England No. 3477100. Registered offices at Chancery House, 53-64 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1QU. 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Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 1 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.1 Summary of method ............................................................................................................................................. 2 1.2 Design-intensive industries ................................................................................................................................. 3 1.3 Economic contribution of design-intensive industries ................................................................................. 3 1.4 Protection of designs ........................................................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Rationale for protection strategies ................................................................................................................... 5 1.6 Enforcement and 3D printing ............................................................................................................................ 7 1.7 Industrial designs and visible spare parts......................................................................................................... 8 1.8 Further action that could be considered ........................................................................................................ 9 2 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................. 11 2.1 Summary of method ........................................................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Key information sources ................................................................................................................................... 12 2.3 Report structure ................................................................................................................................................. 19 3 What is a “Design-Intensive Industry”? ................................................................................................................. 21 3.1 The European Patent Office and Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market definition ........ 21 3.2 The Haskel and Pesole definition of design-intensive industries. ............................................................ 23 3.3 Summary and conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 26 4 Design-Intensive Industries ....................................................................................................................................... 27 4.1 Contribution to turnover, value added / GDP, trade, employment, the number of firms and innovation ....................................................................................................................................................................... 27 4.2 Why firms use or produce designs................................................................................................................. 32 4.3 Summary and conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 35 5 The Options for Protecting Designs ...................................................................................................................... 37 5.1 Industrial designs ................................................................................................................................................. 37 5.2 Protecting designs using alternative forms of IPRs ..................................................................................... 37 5.3 Informal protection ............................................................................................................................................ 40 5.4 Section summary ................................................................................................................................................. 41 6 How Designs are Protected ..................................................................................................................................... 42 6.1 The findings of previous studies ...................................................................................................................... 42 6.2 How do firms protect designs in practice? — New analysis .................................................................... 49 6.3 Summary and conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 83 Section Appendix: Analysis by industrial classification ........................................................................................ 83 7 Why do Firms Choose to Protect Designs in the Ways that they do? ......................................................... 88 7.1 Eight factors affecting the choice of protection .......................................................................................... 88 7.2 Analysis of stakeholder input ........................................................................................................................... 98 7.3 Summary and conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 106 8 Enforcement ............................................................................................................................................................... 108 8.1 Why enforcement matters ............................................................................................................................. 108 8.2 What the current enforcement regimes are.............................................................................................. 109 8.3 How firms view enforcement ........................................................................................................................ 117 8.4 Single Market implications of enforcement standards not being common ......................................... 125 8.5 Might new or forthcoming technologies overturn the industrial design intellectual property regime or overturn manufacturing business models? .......................................................................................................... 126 8.6 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................................ 135 9 Visible Spare Parts ..................................................................................................................................................... 137 9.1 Design protection for complex designs ...................................................................................................... 137 9.2 Current legal differences across the EU ..................................................................................................... 137 9.3 The proposed “repairs clause” ...................................................................................................................... 138 9.4 The European Commission’s proposal for harmonisation ..................................................................... 139 9.5 Competition authorities’ perspectives ........................................................................................................ 141 9.6 Economic overview of visible spare parts in Europe: The automotive and watches and clocks industries ..................................................................................................................................................................... 142 9.7 Findings of our survey ...................................................................................................................................... 146 9.8 The economic implications of the repairs