On 1 August 2026, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) issued its first-month examination feedback following the 1 July rollout of the revised EU design framework. With MP4, OBJ, STL and other dynamic or three-dimensional digital formats now accepted, early filings have exposed a practical weakness: visual disclaimers created through blurring, colour masking or similar techniques often fail to remain consistent across animation frames or viewing angles, particularly in files generated by AI tools or exported directly from modelling software.
EUIPO’s message is straightforward. A disclaimer cannot work only in the principal view. If a masked area breaks, shifts or conflicts with the claimed design in any frame or perspective, the examiner may conclude that the scope of protection cannot be determined. The wider range of accepted formats therefore raises, rather than removes, the need for careful pre-filing review. Applicants should test every frame and angle, verify that excluded matter remains visually stable, and retain version records from generation, modelling and export. AI can accelerate production, but it also makes small inconsistencies easier to overlook.
