Since 1 July 2026, EU design law expressly protects products that exist only on a screen or in a virtual world: graphical user interfaces (GUIs), icons, animated transitions and virtual or augmented-reality items can be registered as EU designs. For digital design protection, metaverse projects included, the key change is that a “product” no longer has to be a physical object. This matters to SaaS and app developers, video game studios and brands that sell or display products in virtual environments.
Key takeaways
- Regulation (EU) 2026/715 defines a product as any industrial or handicraft item “regardless of whether it is embodied in a physical object or materialises in a non-physical form”, and names graphical user interfaces expressly.
- A design now includes the “movement, transition or any other sort of animation” of its features, so animated icons and screen transitions are protectable.
- Computer programs are still excluded: the design protects what the user sees, not the code.
- Animated designs can be filed as a single video file (MP4, up to 20 MB) instead of static views, but static and dynamic formats cannot be mixed in one design.
- Offices outside the EU may not accept animated or dynamic representations, which affects priority claims in Latin America and Africa.
What changed for digital designs on 1 July 2026?
The codified EU Design Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2026/715, entered into force on 1 July 2026. It gathers the reform introduced by Regulation (EU) 2024/2822 into one text. Two definitions in Article 4 do the work for digital creations:
- Design (Article 4(1)): the appearance of the whole or part of a product resulting from its lines, contours, colours, shape, texture or materials, “including the movement, transition or any other sort of animation of those features”.
- Product (Article 4(2)): any industrial or handicraft item, other than a computer program, whether physical or non-physical, including “graphic works or symbols, logos, surface patterns, typographic typefaces, and graphical user interfaces”, as well as spatial arrangements of items forming an interior or exterior environment.
Recital 9 explains why: information technology has produced designs that are not embodied in physical products, and animation can contribute to their appearance. The EUIPO announced on 1 July 2026 that the concept of product now “explicitly includes non-physical (digital) items”. Screen designs were registered before the reform, but the legal basis is now written into the definitions rather than left to practice.
Which digital designs can you register as EU designs?
The EUIPO Guidelines in force since 1 July 2026 confirm that designs of screen displays and icons, GUIs and “other kinds of visible elements of a computer program” are eligible. They add that projected, holographic and virtual or augmented-reality designs (which the EUIPO calls PHVAR designs) can also be registered, pointing to Locarno classes 14-04 and 32-01. The Locarno Classification is the international system used to classify the products a design is applied to.
| Digital creation | Registrable as an EU design? | Practical note |
|---|---|---|
| App icon or website icon | Yes | Static views or, if animated, a video file |
| Full GUI or a single screen | Yes | Protects the visible layout and graphics, not the functionality |
| Animated transition or loading animation | Yes, since animation is part of the definition | Views must be visually related and show the progression clearly |
| Virtual product (avatar clothing, in-game item, virtual furniture) | Yes, as a product in non-physical form | Indicate the product precisely, for example a virtual item, rather than its physical equivalent |
| Virtual store or showroom layout | Yes, as a spatial arrangement of items | Represent the environment as a whole, consistently across views |
| Source code, game rules, sounds | No | Code is left to copyright; music and sounds are not “appearance” under the Guidelines |
The usual tests still apply. The design must be new and have individual character, meaning it produces a different overall impression on the informed user from earlier designs (Articles 6 and 7). Features dictated solely by technical function are excluded (Article 9), and protection covers only the features shown visibly in the application (Article 19).
How do you represent a GUI, an animated icon or a virtual product?
Representation defines the scope of protection, so this is where filings are won or lost. According to the EUIPO’s design representation rules, based on Executive Director Decision EX-26-03:
- A design can be represented as static (up to 10 views in JPEG, 2 MB each), dynamic (one OBJ or STL file) or animated (one MP4 file), with a 20 MB limit for 3D and video files.
- Only one type of representation is allowed per design: you cannot combine screenshots with a video.
- Elements not claimed must be excluded with visual disclaimers used consistently. Broken lines suit static views; for videos, the EUIPO accepts colour shading, boundaries or blurring.
- No explanatory text, arrows or symbols that are not part of the design.
For animated icons and GUIs shown in static views, the Guidelines require the views to be visually related and ordered so that the movement is clear. A video often shows the progression better. The EUIPO also warns that jurisdictions outside the EU may not recognise dynamic or animated designs when your EU filing is used as the basis for a priority claim.
What does an EU design give you against copies in virtual worlds?
A registered EU design gives the exclusive right to use the design and to stop third parties making, offering, placing on the market, importing, exporting or using a product incorporating it (Article 20). The reform added a right over “any medium or software which records the design” for the purpose of making an infringing product, aimed at 3D printing files. The scope covers any design that does not produce a different overall impression (Article 11), and the product indication does not limit the scope of protection as such (Article 42(6)).
Whether a design registered for a physical product can be enforced against a virtual replica, or the reverse, is not answered expressly by the Regulation. Our recommendation is to file for the version you actually sell or display, and consider separate filings for the physical and virtual versions when both matter commercially. Rights last up to 25 years for registered designs, renewable every five years (Article 13).
What this means for your business
- Audit your digital assets: app icons, onboarding screens, dashboards, in-game items, virtual collections. Identify which ones carry commercial value and are likely to be copied.
- File before launch. Once a GUI is public, the 12-month grace period in Article 8(2) helps, but a competitor’s earlier disclosure does not.
- Choose the format per design: static views for a stable interface, a video for a design whose value lies in the animation.
- Combine rights: an icon may also deserve trade mark protection across the EU and Latin America, and the underlying software remains a copyright matter.
- Plan the corridor early. If you will extend to Mexico, Brazil, Argentina or Colombia, check whether each office accepts the format before choosing it for the EU filing.
If you need GUI and virtual product filings handled together with your physical product range, our team for EU and international industrial design registration can build one filing plan for both.
Where companies get digital design protection wrong
- Filing the screen, not the design. A screenshot full of menus, text and status bars without disclaimers can narrow the protection to a combination nobody will copy exactly.
- Mixing formats. Adding a static view to a video, or changing colours between views, triggers objections or produces an unclear scope.
- Choosing a video for the EU and then discovering that a non-EU office will not accept it, which makes the priority claim harder to use.
- Assuming design rights cover functionality or code. They protect appearance only; the software itself needs a separate strategy, which our AI and digital assets team can coordinate.
- Waiting until after a public beta. Every public release is prior art against you if a competitor files first or if your own grace period runs out.
Frequently asked questions
Can I protect a graphical user interface as an EU design?
Yes. Article 4(2) of Regulation (EU) 2026/715 lists graphical user interfaces among the products that can carry a design, and the EUIPO Guidelines confirm that screen displays, icons and other visible elements of a computer program are eligible. The design protects the visible appearance of the interface, not its functions or the underlying code.
Are virtual products in the metaverse protected by EU design law?
They can be. Since 1 July 2026, a product includes items that materialise in a non-physical form, and the EUIPO accepts projected, holographic and virtual or augmented-reality designs. The virtual item must still be new and have individual character, and it should be represented and indicated precisely as the virtual product you want to protect.
Can I file an animated icon as a video?
Yes. The EUIPO accepts one MP4 file of up to 20 MB per design for animated representations. You cannot combine the video with static views for the same design. Bear in mind that offices outside the EU may not recognise animated representations when you rely on the EU filing to claim priority there.
Can IP Global Guard protect our GUIs and virtual products in several countries?
Yes. We review which digital assets are worth protecting, prepare the representations and coordinate filings before the EUIPO, directly where our professionals are entitled to act and otherwise through qualified representatives, and coordinate local correspondents for Latin American and African offices, with one point of contact.
How IP Global Guard can help you protect digital designs
Digital designs are copied fast and launched globally on day one, so the filing strategy has to be ready before release. IP Global Guard, the intellectual property services line of META Channel Corporation Limited, manages design, trade mark and software protection across more than 25 jurisdictions in Europe, Latin America and Africa with one strategy and one billing relationship; see our coverage across the corridor.
Send us screenshots or videos of the interfaces, icons or virtual items you plan to release, with the launch date and target markets. We will tell you what can be registered, in which format and where. Talk to our design team.
This article is general information, not legal advice, and reflects the position on its publication date.
Sources
- EUR-Lex, Regulation (EU) 2026/715 on European Union designs (codification), OJ L of 30 March 2026
- EUIPO, The modernised EU design legal framework is now fully applicable (1 July 2026)
- EUIPO, Decision No EX-26-09 adopting the 2026 Guidelines, designs part (in force 1 July 2026)
- EUIPO, Design representation: key rules and technical requirements (2026)
- EUIPO, EU designs legislative reform: summary of changes applying from 1 July 2026 (July 2026)
