In Germany, the first signs of design law emerged in the textile industry in the middle of the 18th century. About a century later, in 1837 and 1845, two federal decisions created the first possibilities for design protection on a copyright basis that were not limited to specific industries. The development finally picked up speed with the Act on Copyright in Patterns and Models of January 11, 1876, which was also called "Aesthetic Models Act" (in German: "Geschmacksmustergesetz"). The term reflected that, historically, designs needed to have a specific aesthetic quality in order to be protectable as an "aesthetic model" in Germany. The Aesthetic Models Act was, apart from minor amendments in 1974, in force for more than 100 years. However, as in copyright law, it only protected the rights owner against the copying of the design. A major change in German design law then took place in 2004, when the German legislator implemented the Directive 98/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 on the legal protection of designs (Designs Directive) into national law. From this point in time, the rights owner was protected against any unlawful use of his design. Moreover, an aesthetic quality was not a requirement for protection anymore either. Finally, in the course of a further revision of the Aesthetic Models Act in 2014, the term "Registered Design" (in German: "eingetragenes Design") replaced the linguistically outdated term "aesthetic model." Since then, the national law is called "German Design Act" (in German: "Gesetz über den rechtlichen Schutz von Design," short: "Designgesetz").