EU DESIGN PROTECTION OF SPARE PARTS

Protection of the visible spare parts used to repair a complex product in order to restore its original appearance has been for years an issue of vivid discussions in the European Union. Generally, it is a dispute involving large motor car manufactures (owners of exclusive rights to the registered industrial designs) and independent (not related to motor car concerns) spare part producers, in which the former demand protection, arguing that the exclusive rights granted to them constitute compensation for their outlays, while the latter claim that such protection should be abolished because the spare-parts-market has been monopolised, thus making them incapable of competing legally with manufacturers of original spare parts. The Polish legislator has resolved the dispute in a similar way as some other EU member states, i.e. by incorporating a repair clause in the Act on industrial property and excluded protection of the manufactured good as an element of a complex one used to restore its original appearance. The paper refers to the discussion that has been still going on within the EU, and which had influenced the decision o f the Polish legislator. The author presents different concepts and solutions proposed in recent years and the current standpoint of the deciding bodies in the EU. The repair clause in Polish legislation is not subject of those considerations