Digital Revolution or Compliance Trap?

EUIPO's New 3D and Video Design Rules Spark Global Tech Debate

As Europe officially embraces interactive models and MP4 filings to protect modern assets, companies face a tricky new cross-border filing dilemma. For decades, registering a design, such as the look of a product, a gadget, or software, to protect it from copyright infringement, intellectual property offices like the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office)[1] operated on a purely 2D, static mindset. The designer had to submit flat JPEG drawings or photos from different fixed angles.

If the said design was a piece of software with an animated graphical user interface (GUI), a complex digital transition, or a 3D-printed object that needed to be viewed from shifting perspectives, flat pictures were quite labour-intensive to procure.

Under the finalised overhaul of the EU's design laws, the EUIPO officially started accepting modern digital formats:

• Video files (MP4): So companies can officially patent/register things like moving UI animations, digital transitions, or the movement of a dynamic screen element.
  

• 3D dynamic models (OBJ or STL files): So applicants can upload interactive 3D models that an examiner (or a competitor) can rotate, zoom, and inspect a physical product's shape from every angle, rather than relying on static sketches.
  

This legal update recognises that modern products have evolved from static plastic boxes: they have moving parts, digital screens, and 3D dimensions that require modern digital proof to match.

The recent update overhauls the procedure by officially recognising digital, virtual, and moving designs. Here is why it's a big deal in practice:

• What can now be submitted: Instead of just flat drawings, companies can upload MP4 video files to show how animated graphics move, or 3D digital files (like OBJ or STL formats) so people can rotate, zoom, and inspect a shape from every angle.
  

• What it protects: This is a massive win for software and tech companies. You can now properly register elements such as Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), screen transitions, animated icons, and virtual/augmented reality assets.
  

• The 3D-Printing Crackdown: On the flip side, the reform explicitly expands IP enforcement into the digital age. It is now an explicit copyright/design infringement to create, download, share, or distribute digital files (such as an STL file) intended for the unauthorised 3D printing of a protected product.
  

The EUIPO elevated the status of these products, recognising that they aren't just physical chunks of plastic anymore, but are software-driven, animated, and digitally rendered.

From a technical filing and legal enforcement standpoint, the EUIPO’s integration of digital asset standards is built on specific parameters:

The Accepted File Formats & Specs

The EUIPO’s e-filing system officially accepts three distinct new digital tracks alongside standard static JPEGs:

1. 3D Dynamic Views (OBJ and STL formats): Used for true 3D CAD-based geometry. Examiners and competitors can dynamically rotate, pan, and zoom the object. (Note: STL files only capture surface mesh geometry and cannot store colour or texture data, whereas OBJ files handle basic materials).
   

2. Animated Representations (MP4 format): Used for time-based shifting designs like screen transitions or animated UI elements. These must adhere to standard video parameters (e.g., encoded in H.264, running at 24 to 30 frames per second, progressive scan, with no audio, since sound isn’t protected under industrial design law).
   

3. File Size Constraints: Individual attachments max out at 20 MB for MP4, OBJ, and STL files (compared to just 2 MB for legacy JPEGs), with total application packages capped to prevent server Bloat.

2. The 3D-Printing Enforcement Mechanism

The technical shift isn't just about how you file; it’s about what constitutes digital piracy. The updated regulations explicitly target the software layer of manufacturing:

• Under the old laws, going after someone for printing a knockoff on a home 3D printer was legally grey unless they sold the physical object.
  

• The new framework makes creating, downloading, copying, sharing, or distributing any digital file or CAD software (like an .STL or .CAD file) that records the protected design an act of direct infringement.
  

References :

[1] (January 15, 2024). A new and improved form to register a design. EUIPO. https://www.euipo.europa.eu/sv/news/a-new-and-improved-form-to-register-a-design