Recital 16

(16) Apart from being shown visibly in an application for registration, design features of a product do not need to be visible at any particular time or in any particular situation of use in order to benefit from design protection. As an exception to this principle, protection should not be extended to those component parts which are not visible during normal use of a complex product, or to those features of such part which are not visible when the part is mounted, or which would not, in themselves, fulfil the requirements regarding novelty and individual character. Therefore, those design features of component parts of a complex product which are excluded from protection for those reasons should not be taken into consideration for the purpose of assessing whether other design features fulfil the requirements for protection.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-16 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.