How to protect your product from being copied? An overview of industrial design registration
If your product has a unique design or appearance, register it as an industrial design. A design registration provides exclusive rights to use the design and protects it from unauthorized copying. Meanwhile, it’s worth legally protecting your brand and logo by registering them as trademarks.
In this article, we will focus on discussing product design registration. Here you can read about a trademark registration.
What is an industrial design?
A registered industrial design protects the external appearance of a product, as determined by the characteristics of lines, contours, shapes, colors, texture or material, and ornamentation.
By registering the appearance of a product as a design with an approptoate IP office, you can effectively protect your product from imitation, gaining a strong and effective legal tool to pursue claims against infringers of your design rights.
A design registration grants its owner the exclusive right to use it and to prohibit third parties from using it without their consent. Use of the design includes, in particular, manufacturing, offering, marketing, importing, exporting, or using a product in which the design is incorporated or applied, or storing such a product for these purposes.
However, it is essential to register the industrial design simultaneously with the product’s market introduction, or even earlier. If your product has already been available on the market for several years, registration will not be effective in pursuing claims against those infringing your design.
Examples of industrial designs
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| RCD-015025974-0001 | Rp.28774 | RCD-001487904-0001 | Rp.28427 |
Where to register a design?
An industrial design is a subject of industrial property that can be protected in Poland by registering it with the Polish Patent Office. Protection across the entire EU is provided by registering a Community design with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
When filing a design to the office, it is necessary to attach its drawings or photos. For a proper preparation of the design application, it is advisable to seek the assistance of a patent attorney.
Conditions for registering an industrial design
On the date of application to the relevant office, the design must be new and have individual character.
Novelty means that on the filing date, the industrial design must not have been disclosed by the applicant more than 12 months before the application. If the same design was made publicly available before the application by anyone other than the applicant, the design also loses its novelty under the law.
An industrial design is considered to have individual character if the overall impression it produces on an informed user differs from the overall impression produced by a design made publicly available before the priority date. When assessing the individual character of an industrial design, the degree of creative freedom in developing the design is taken into account.
Things to remember while registering a design with the EUIPO
- The application must include photos or drawings of the design: up to 7 images in a consistent technique. A description is not required.
- The name(s) of the design creator(s) shall be provided.
- If the application process runs smoothly, the EUIPO will register the design and issue a design registration certificate, in an electronic form, in about 10-14 days from the application date.
- The protection of a registered community design applies throughout the entire European Union.
- An community design registration can last up to 25 years from the application date, provided renewal fees are paid every 5 years.
- The scope of protection resulting from the registration of a community design covers any design that does not produce a different overall impression on an informed user.
- A community design does not cover features of a product’s appearance that are solely dictated by its technical function.
- Only what is visible in the design’s images is protected. The community design is protected regardless of scale and purpose (e.g., a frisbee in the shape and color of a registered dinner plate design would infringe the design registration). NOTE – the protection of a Polish industrial design is limited only to products of the kind for which the application was made.
Ask us for an offer for your design registration.