Short answer: in Ireland, the design of a classic chair such as the Eames Lounge Chair, the Barcelona Chair or the LC2 stops being protected by copyright 25 years after it was first put on the market (Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000, section 78). All three were first marketed in the 1950s or earlier, so in Ireland they have been free to reproduce for decades. The United Kingdom used to have an identical 25-year rule, but repealed it in 2016; a UK design can now be protected for the life of the designer plus 70 years. That single difference is why so many replica retailers, including Decomica, trade from Ireland, and why the UK position is more complicated for anyone selling into it. This article explains both rules, with the actual sections and cases, so you can check them yourself.
This is a factual explainer, not legal advice. It covers Ireland and the United Kingdom only. Other EU countries take different approaches, and we do not attempt to summarise them here. If your decision depends on the law, speak to a lawyer in your own country.
Three different kinds of protection, and why only one still matters
A piece of furniture can be protected in three separate ways, and people often confuse them:
- Patents protect inventions for 20 years. Any patents on mid-century chairs expired in the 1960s and 1970s. Not relevant today.
- Design rights protect the appearance of a product. In the EU, a registered Community design lasts at most 25 years (Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002, Article 12) and an unregistered one lasts 3 years (Article 11). For designs from the 1920s to the 1950s these are long gone.
- Copyright is the one that still matters. Furniture can qualify as a “work of applied art” or a “work of artistic craftsmanship”, and copyright normally lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years (Directive 2006/116/EC, Article 1). Charles Eames died in 1978 and Ray Eames in 1988; Ludwig Mies van der Rohe died in 1969; Le Corbusier died in 1965; Charlotte Perriand, co-designer of the LC series, died in 1999. On a life-plus-70 basis, none of those terms has run out.
So the whole question comes down to this: does copyright in a mass-produced chair really run for life plus 70 years, or does something shorten it? Ireland and the UK answer that differently.
Ireland: the 25-year rule in section 78
Section 78 of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 deals with artistic works that have been exploited industrially, meaning the design has been applied to articles that are made and sold in quantity. For those articles, the Act limits the copyright that can be enforced against people who make or deal in the same articles to 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the articles were first lawfully marketed. The artistic work itself keeps its copyright as a drawing or a sculpture; what expires is the right to stop others reproducing it as a product.
Applied to the classics:
- Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman (models 670 and 671): first marketed by Herman Miller in 1956. The Irish 25-year period ended on 31 December 1981.
- Barcelona Chair: designed in 1929 for the German Pavilion at the Barcelona International Exposition and produced commercially long before Knoll’s 1953 relaunch. Expired in Ireland decades ago on any reading.
- LC2 armchair and LC4 chaise longue: designed in 1928 and 1929; Cassina’s production began in 1965. Even taking 1965 as the start, the Irish period ended in 1990.
This is the legal basis on which Irish replica retailers, including Decomica (MG Design Concept Ltd, an Irish company), sell reproductions of these designs. It is worth being honest about one point: section 78 has not been amended since the Court of Justice of the EU’s Cofemel judgment (Case C-683/17, 12 September 2019), which held that a design only needs to be original to attract copyright and that member states may not impose extra requirements such as artistic merit. Whether a national term limit like section 78 sits comfortably with that judgment has been debated by lawyers. As far as we are aware, no Irish court has set section 78 aside, and it remains the law in force.
The United Kingdom: the same rule, until 2016
The UK had an almost identical provision, section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. It limited copyright in industrially exploited artistic works to 25 years from first marketing, and for decades it meant that replica classics could be sold in the UK on the same footing as in Ireland.
Section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 repealed section 52. After consultation and a legal challenge over the timetable, the repeal took effect on 28 July 2016, with a transitional period for existing stock that ended on 28 January 2017. Since then, a piece of furniture that qualifies as a work of artistic craftsmanship is protected in the UK for the full life-plus-70-years term.
Two points of nuance matter here:
- “Qualifies” is doing a lot of work. The repeal did not declare any particular chair protected. Whether a given design is a “work of artistic craftsmanship” is decided case by case, and the leading UK authority, George Hensher Ltd v Restawile Upholstery (Lancs) Ltd [1976] AC 64, set a demanding standard. As far as we are aware, no UK court has ruled on the Eames, Barcelona or LC designs since the 2016 change.
- Private buyers and commercial sellers are in different positions. Under section 22 of the 1988 Act, importing a copy is secondary infringement only where it is imported “otherwise than for private and domestic use”. A person buying a single chair for their own home is not in that category. The commercial act of putting copies on the UK market is the exposure that led a number of EU retailers to stop shipping to the UK after January 2017.
What this means in practice
| Question | Ireland | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Copyright term for a mass-produced design | 25 years from first marketing (CRRA 2000, s.78) | Life of the designer + 70 years, if the piece is a work of artistic craftsmanship (CDPA 1988, s.12; s.52 repealed 2016) |
| Eames Lounge Chair (1956) | Expired 1981 | Potentially protected until 2058 (Ray Eames d. 1988) |
| Barcelona Chair (1929) | Expired | Potentially protected until 2039 (Mies van der Rohe d. 1969) |
| LC2 / LC4 (1928–29, Cassina 1965) | Expired 1990 | Potentially protected until 2069 (Charlotte Perriand d. 1999) |
| Buying one replica for your own home | Lawful | Importing for private and domestic use is not secondary infringement (CDPA s.22) |
| Using the brand name on the product | Never: Herman Miller, Vitra, Knoll and Cassina are registered trade marks, and a replica must be sold as a replica | Same |
What a replica seller still cannot do, anywhere
An expired design term does not make everything permissible. Three things remain off limits in both countries:
- Trade marks. The brand names and logos of the licensed manufacturers are protected indefinitely as long as they are in use. A replica cannot carry them, and cannot be described in a way that suggests it is the licensed product. That is why we call our products replicas and say who did not make them.
- Passing off and consumer law. Presenting a replica as an original is a consumer-protection offence regardless of copyright.
- Copying the manufacturer’s own photographs, catalogues or text. Those are separate copyright works with their own full term.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to buy a replica Eames chair in Ireland?
Yes. The design’s copyright term for industrially produced articles expired in Ireland in 1981 under section 78 of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000. The product must be sold as a replica, not as a Herman Miller or Vitra product.
Is it legal to buy a replica for my home in the UK?
Buying and importing a single piece for private and domestic use is not secondary infringement under section 22 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The position of a commercial seller placing copies on the UK market is different, and is the reason the UK market changed after January 2017.
Why did the UK change the law in 2016?
Parliament repealed section 52 through the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to bring the term for industrially exploited artistic works into line with the term for other artistic works. The repeal took effect on 28 July 2016 after a transitional period was shortened following a judicial review.
Did the EU change the rules too?
The EU has not adopted a 25-year limit or removed one. What changed was the Court of Justice’s Cofemel judgment in 2019, which confirmed that a design needs only to be original to be protected by copyright and that member states may not add tests such as artistic value. National term rules such as Ireland’s section 78 were not the subject of that case.
Where does Decomica ship from?
From Ireland, where MG Design Concept Ltd is registered. Every product is described as a replica and none carries a manufacturer’s trade mark. For the broader question of what makes a replica honest, see our guides on whether Eames replicas are legal and Eames Lounge Chair copyright.
Sources
- Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 (Ireland), section 78 – Irish Statute Book, irishstatutebook.ie
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (UK), sections 12, 22 and the former section 52 – legislation.gov.uk
- Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (UK), section 74, and the commencement orders made under it (repeal in force 28 July 2016; transitional period to 28 January 2017)
- Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community designs, Articles 11 and 12
- Directive 2006/116/EC on the term of protection of copyright, Article 1
- Court of Justice of the European Union, Cofemel – Sociedade de Vestuário SA v G-Star Raw CV, Case C-683/17, judgment of 12 September 2019
- George Hensher Ltd v Restawile Upholstery (Lancs) Ltd [1976] AC 64 (House of Lords)
Last reviewed September 2026. If you believe anything above is inaccurate, write to support@decomica.com and we will check it and correct it.
