Design law (or design patent law) includes all legal issues dealing with the protection and imitation of aesthetic forms and designs. Typical examples are furniture
design, fashion design, car body designs and also product parts.
Design protection does not always require formal registration as a German design or European Community design. An EU-wide design protection can also arise through
work creation (copyright protection according to the UrhG) or disclosure in the European Union (non-registered Community design according to the CDR). Under certain circumstances, there may even be
protection according to the principles of supplementary protection under competition law under the Unfair Competition Act (UWG).