A Registered Community Design (RCD) is a single registration which conveys design protection in all countries of the European Union according to the Community Design Regulation.
The registration process of an RCD is administered centrally by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in Alicante, Spain.
The costs for filing an RCD application are much less than the cost of filing separate national design applications in all EU member states. Every year, more than 20,000 RCD applications are filed.
Similar to national registered designs, RCDs have an initial duration of 5 years and can be renewed every 5 years by payment of a fee up to maximum duration of 25 years.
By means of a multiple application, an unlimited number of designs can be included in a single application, provided that all designs relate to the same kind of article. The costs per design in a multiple application are much lower than the costs in the case of several independent designs.
