The EU Design Act (effective 1 May 2025 with further reforms effective 1 July 2026) has been introduced to strengthen, simplify, and harmonize existing design protection, which will modernize the EU design system and align with EU trademark rules. This new reform will offer design protection that is fit for the era of digital designs and evolving technologies.
But what changes does the reform bring to your business? We address this question in a series of sector-specific articles featured in our "Designing the Future" series. The series kicks off with the video games sector.
The changes in EU design law go far beyond administrative tweaks – the reform clearly opens the door to protect the very features that shape player experience and brand identity, offering stronger tools against piracy, copycats, and game clones.
What’s new? What can be protected?
The EU Design Act introduces new opportunities for design protection: animations & motions, graphical user interfaces (GUIs) as well as non-physical, digital products and spaces can now be protected by a design:
Under the new EU design regime, dynamic elements can also be registered, including:
- Character movements, emotes, and interactions.
- Unique transitions, button clicks, and load screen effects.
- Studio intro animations.
- Level-up and reward Sequences.
- Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)
GUIs are often as iconic as the characters themselves. With the reforms, protection now explicitly extends to:
- Menus, overlays, typography, and navigation systems.
- Distinctive visual styles that define brand identity and player experience.
- Non-Physical, Digital Products & Spaces (AR/VR)
A game-changer for AR/VR studios, protection now expressly extends to non-physical digital spaces, such as:
- Virtual environments: the design of immersive worlds and landscapes.
- Interactive 3D menus and HUDs: floating panels, dash boards, or toolkits in VR/AR.
- Gestural interactions: the way users interact with objects or interfaces through motion.
- Mixed reality overlays: branded visuals layered onto the physical world.
Why it matters for you
Under the new EU design regime, studios can protect far more than static visuals. Exclusive rights may extend to the entire look and feel of a game (animations, movements, interactions), GUIs and UI systems that carry brand recognition and AR/VR experiences that shape future player engagement. This strengthens the ability to fight back against clones, copycats, and unauthorized imitations.
How to protect these new designs
The technical standards for representing animated designs are still being finalized, with updates due by 1 July 2026.
Article 26 of the EU Design Directive already allows for static, dynamic, or animated representations using generally available technologies: drawings, photos, videos, or computer models. Further formats will be added and video formats (e.g., MP4) are expected to play a central role.
What we recommend
The reform provides an opportunity to refine your design protection strategy and fully utilize the new options to legally secure the features that shape player experience and brand identity and shield them from piracy, copycats, and game clones.
We recommend that you
- Educate teams: Brief creative and product teams on the new scope of protection.
- Audit assets: Identify core new animations, movements unique GUIs, skins, in-game items, and virtual environments which may be eligible for protection (keeping in mind the novelty requirement).
- Strategize: Develop filing strategies for protecting your key assets.
- Monitor developments: Track the July 2026 technical rules and further category expansions.
- File early: Begin submitting design applications for key visual features that define the look and feel of your video games.
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