Abstract

Design is multifaceted. There is architectural design, product design, furniture design, fashion design and many more. But what they have all in common is that a lot creative energy and also often a lot of time and money was invested to create a new design. Nevertheless in many cases the design is very easy to copy. Therefore it is very important to protect a design against deliberate copying and unauthorized usage. This paper will give a short summary about the most relevant legal possibilities of design protection in Germany and in Europe: Copyright Law, Registred Community Design and Trademark Law. This is not a academic research paper but it allows interested design related people to get a general overview how to protect their works.