The EUIPO has recently announced that, with effect from 12
September, it will become an accessing office under the WIPO
Digital Access Service (DAS). This follows the news in July that
the EUIPO would begin depositing certified copies of design
applications with the WIPO DAS.
Applicants will therefore no longer need to submit a certified
copy of a priority application where this is available through WIPO
DAS (as is the case for US, Chinese, Japanese filings, among
others) – only the filing number, date, country and WIPO DAS
access code will be needed.
Interestingly, the updated guidelines on the Examination of
Applications for Registered Community Designs indicate that the
WIPO DAS access code must be provided at the time of filing –
if it is not, then a certified copy of the priority document must
be submitted in the normal manner.
