Cross-border IP due diligence: design portfolio checklist

In cross-border IP due diligence, design portfolios are often reviewed last, yet they carry risks of their own: registrations in the wrong entity’s name, missed renewals, Hague designations that were refused or allowed to lapse, unregistered rights that have already expired and deferred designs nobody has seen. This checklist covers what to verify in deals involving EU, Spanish and Latin American designs, with the legal basis for each point. It is written for buyers, investors, sellers and in-house teams preparing a transaction.

Key takeaways

Check that every design is held by the entity being sold and that each assignment is in writing, signed and recorded: an unrecorded EU transfer cannot be invoked.
Terms differ by system: up to 25 years for EU designs, Brazil and Mexico, but 10 years in the Andean Community, and only 3 for unregistered EU designs.
Hague international registrations need a designation-by-designation review, including refusals and renewals.
Since 1 July 2026, missing creator details in Hague registrations can be recorded at WIPO, which makes clean-up easier before closing.
Deferred EU designs publish automatically after 30 months unless surrendered at least three months before.

Why do designs need their own review in cross-border IP due diligence?

Trade marks and patents usually get most of the attention, but designs protect the appearance of the products the buyer is paying for. They also follow different rules in each system, so a single spreadsheet of “registered IP” hides important differences.

System	Term	Legal basis
Registered EU design	5 years, renewable up to 25	Article 13, Regulation (EU) 2026/715
Unregistered EU design	3 years from first disclosure in the EU; copying only	Articles 12 and 20(4)
Hague international registration	5-year periods, maximum term set by each designated party	WIPO declarations
Brazil	10 years, extendable by three 5-year periods (25)	Article 108, Law 9.279/1996
Mexico	5 years, renewable up to 25	Article 78, Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property
Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru)	10 years from filing	Article 128, Decision 486

Sources: Regulation (EU) 2026/715, Brazilian Law 9.279/1996, Mexico’s LFPPI (last amended 3 April 2026) and Andean Decision 486.

The design due diligence checklist

1. Ownership and chain of title

Compare the registered holder of each design with the target’s legal entities, including former names and merged companies.
For EU designs, an assignment must be in writing and signed by both parties, or it is void (Article 31(1)). Until a transfer is entered in the Register, the successor cannot invoke the rights arising from the registration (Article 31(6)).
Check that licences, security interests and levies of execution are recorded where relevant (Articles 33, 34 and 36).

2. Designers and entitlement

The right belongs to the designer or their successor; designs created by employees in the course of their duties belong to the employer unless otherwise agreed or provided by national law (Article 14). Ask for employment and freelance contracts covering the key designs.
Claims by the person really entitled are barred three years after publication of a registered EU design, unless the holder acted in bad faith (Article 15(3)). Recent registrations are more exposed.
For Hague registrations, WIPO announced on 10 June 2026 that, from 1 July 2026, holders can record a creator’s name and address where it was missing, or update them, with form DM/10 (CHF 144 for the first registration and CHF 72 for each additional one).

3. Status, renewals and deadlines

Confirm that every registration is in force. EU renewals are filed in the six months before expiry, with a further six-month grace period subject to a surcharge (Article 66(3)).
For Hague registrations, a late renewal within the grace period costs a surcharge of 50% of the renewal basic fee (WIPO Schedule of Fees, 1 July 2026).
List every deadline that falls between signing and closing and agree who pays and instructs.

4. Hague designations

Review each designated party separately: refusals, withdrawals, partial renewals and the maximum term declared.
Some parties, including OAPI, Brazil, China, Denmark, Mexico, the Republic of Korea and the United States, have declared that a change in ownership has no effect until the office receives specified statements or documents (Article 16(2) declarations, August 2025). Plan those filings into the closing steps.

5. Deferred and unregistered designs

EU designs can be deferred for up to 30 months; publication then follows automatically unless the holder surrenders the design at least three months before the end of the period (Article 62). While unpublished they protect only against copying (Article 20(5)).
Unregistered EU designs last three years from first disclosure in the EU (Article 12). Ask for dated evidence of first disclosure; without it, value is hard to support.

6. Scope and validity

Protection covers only the features shown visibly in the application (Article 19). Compare the registered views with the products actually sold.
Ask about pending invalidity actions, oppositions, warning letters and litigation in every jurisdiction.

Latin American points to add

In Latin America, the review usually runs office by office. Brazil and Mexico are now members of the Hague System (since 2023 and 2020 respectively, according to WIPO’s status table), so part of a portfolio may sit in the International Register and part in national registers. The Andean countries grant ten-year rights that cannot be extended under Decision 486, which affects valuation. In practice, the issues that appear most often are designs filed by local distributors, assignments never recorded locally and renewals managed by different agents in each country.

What this means for your business

Sellers: prepare a design schedule by jurisdiction with holder, status, next deadline, designer and any licence. Fix recordals before the data room opens.
Buyers: map the designs to the products that generate revenue, not just to the registry list.
Both: agree in the transaction documents who handles renewals and recordals between signing and closing, and in which offices.
After closing: record the transfers in every office and Hague designation, and consolidate renewals in one calendar.

Our cross-border IP strategy and due diligence team works alongside our industrial design portfolio management specialists to review and clean up design portfolios before and after a deal.

Where design due diligence goes wrong

Treating the registry printout as the answer. It shows the holder, not whether the chain of title behind it is valid.
Ignoring Hague designations one by one. A registration can be alive for some parties and refused or lapsed for others.
Overvaluing unregistered designs that are close to their three-year limit or lack evidence of disclosure.
Forgetting deferred designs, whose appearance the buyer may not even have seen.
Leaving recordals for later. In the EU and in several Hague parties, an unrecorded transfer limits what the new owner can enforce.

Frequently asked questions

What design documents should a seller prepare for due diligence?

A schedule of all registered and unregistered designs by jurisdiction, with holder, status and next renewal date; copies of assignments and recordal certificates; employment and freelance contracts for the designers; licences and security interests; and a list of disputes, oppositions and invalidity actions. Preparing it early shortens the review and reveals problems while there is still time to fix them.

Can creator details in a Hague registration be corrected before closing?

Partly. From 1 July 2026, WIPO allows the holder to record the creator’s name and address where they were missing, or to update them, using form DM/10. The official fee is CHF 144 for one international registration and CHF 72 for each additional registration in the same request, according to WIPO’s announcement of 10 June 2026.

Do unregistered EU designs have value in a deal?

They can, but it is limited. An unregistered EU design lasts three years from first disclosure in the EU and protects only against copying. Its value depends on dated evidence of disclosure and on how much of the three years remains. For key products, buyers often prefer registered designs or a plan to register remaining eligible designs.

Can IP Global Guard run the design part of a cross-border due diligence?

Yes. We review titles, chain of title, renewals and Hague designations, flag risks for the transaction documents and handle recordals after closing before the EUIPO, the OEPM and WIPO, directly where our professionals are entitled and otherwise through qualified representatives, with local correspondents across Latin America and Africa.

How IP Global Guard supports your transaction

A design portfolio is only worth what its chain of title, renewals and registrations can support. IP Global Guard, the IP services line of META Channel Corporation Limited, reviews and restructures IP portfolios with one strategy and one billing relationship across more than 25 jurisdictions in our Europe, Latin America and Africa coverage.

Share the deal timeline and the list of jurisdictions involved. We will scope the design review, flag the issues to address before signing and plan the recordals after closing. Contact our due diligence team.

This article is general information, not legal advice, and does not replace an assessment of your specific case.