The holder of a Registered Design has exclusive rights to use it throughout the relevant territory and to prevent third parties from both deliberately copying and independent development of a design with the same overall impression.
Protection of a Registered Design extends to all products, e.g. if your registration is registered in respect of toys, you can prevent the use of a design of the same overall impression on biscuits.
The rights in a European Registered Design (RCD) can be enforced in any of the designated Design Courts throughout the European Union.
The holder of an unregistered Design can only prevent the deliberate copying of the protected design and protection only lasts for three years from when the design was first made available.