Article 7 — Individual character

1. A design shall be considered to have individual character if the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced on such a user by any design which has been made available to the public: (a) in the case of an unregistered EU design, before the date on which the design for which protection is claimed has first been made available to the public; (b) in the case of a registered EU design, before the date of filing of the application for registration or, if a priority is claimed, the date of priority. 2. In assessing individual character, the degree of freedom of the designer in developing the design shall be taken into consideration.