Article 41 - Right of priority

1. A person who has duly filed an application for a design right or for a utility model in or for any State party to the Paris Convention, or to the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization, or his successors in title, shall enjoy, for the purpose of filing an application for a registered EU design in respect of the same design or utility model, a right of priority for a period of six months from the date of filing of the first application. 

2. Every filing that, under the national law of the State where it was made or under bilateral or multilateral agreements, is sufficient to establish the date on which the application was filed, whatever the outcome of the application may be, shall be recognised as giving rise to a right of priority. 

3. A subsequent application for a design which was the subject of a previous first application, and which is filed in or in respect of the same State, shall be considered to be the first application for the purpose of determining priority, provided that, at the date of the filing of the subsequent application, the previous application has been withdrawn, abandoned or refused without being open to public inspection and without leaving any rights outstanding, and has not served as a basis for claiming a right of priority. The previous application shall not thereafter serve as a basis for claiming a right of priority. 

4. If the first filing has been made in a State which is not a party to the Paris Convention, or to the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization, paragraphs 1 to 3 shall apply only in so far as that State, according to published findings, grants, on the basis of the first filing made at the Office and subject to conditions equivalent to those laid down in this Regulation, a right of priority having equivalent effect. The Executive Director shall, where necessary, request the Commission to consider enquiring as to whether that State accords such reciprocal treatment. If the Commission determines that reciprocal treatment is accorded, it shall publish a communication to that effect in the Official Journal of the European Union. 

5. The right of priority referred to in paragraph 4 shall apply from the date of publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of the communication determining that reciprocal treatment is accorded, unless the communication states an earlier date from which it is applicable. It shall cease to apply from the date of publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of a communication of the Commission to the effect that reciprocal treatment is no longer accorded, unless the communication states an earlier date from which it is applicable. 

6. Communications referred to in paragraphs 4 and 5 shall also be published in the Official Journal of the Office.