EU Design Law Changes: Navigating Revised Frameworks and Broadened Scope, Maximizing Protections

Ms. Durkin heads the firm’s Mechanical and Design Patent Group. With nearly 30 years of experience obtaining and enforcing IP rights, she has a deep understanding of utility and design patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Ms. Durkin has been an Adjunct Professor at George Mason University Law School and has spoken internationally on topics such as the interplay between design patents and trade dress, and protection of user interface and the user experience. She is currently a Vice Chair of the Industrial Designs Committee of IP Section of the ABA.

Mr. Sempere is Founder Partner and Co-CEO at PADIMA, very much focused in managing its Legal Area, Honorific Commercial Law Doctor and Professor of Law at the University of Alicante, Magister Lvcentinus in Intellectual Property (Alicante), Spanish Patent and Trademark Attorney and representative before the EUIPO and EPO. After working at the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, with a wide experience there, he is a practising lawyer specialized in design protection & enforcement, as well as commercial mediator and legal expert in the Intellectual Property (IP) field. Mr. Sempere heads and coordinates the IP defence actions for different national and international companies currently Vice chairing the INTA Design Committee, where he chaired the Law & Practice SC (2018-2020), and has been heading the Spanish Group in the Design Committee of the 2016 AIPPI World Congress in Milan. He participated in the CP10 Working Group in representation of INTA and has been included in the EUIPO List of Auditors “Quality Management Systems” for 2019 SQAP audits (Stakeholder Quality Assurance Panels) on designs invalidity decisions. Mr. Sempere also coordinates the Intellectual Property and Innovation group of the Spanish Association for Trademarks Protection & Enforcement (ANDEMA), as well as counsel at several academic and business institutes and organizations.

Mr. Burrell joined D Young & Co in 2018, having first started in the profession back in 2010. He is a UK and European Patent Attorney, with particular experience in design matters. Mr. Burrell has considerable experience in registering designs in all territories of the world, including in the UK via the UKIPO, across the EU via the EUIPO, and via the Hague design registration system where appropriate. He is well-versed in protecting the design of products, games, user-interfaces, and brands via the use of registered design rights.