Industrial Design


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INDUSTRIAL DESIGN


A product’s design or form may be a synonym of the business’s brand or image, and can become an asset with an increasing financial value. If protection is not applied for, others may make use of the time and effort invested in the design.

A design is defined as the appearance of all or part of a product, resulting in particular from the nature of the colors, lines, materials, outlines, shape, or texture of the product itself or its ornamentation.

In protecting an industrial design by registering it, the owner obtains the exclusive right to prevent its unauthorized reproduction or imitation by others. Examples of designs include the shape of a chair, domestic appliance, toy, or vase; the pattern on a tableware set or a tie; the decoration on a piece of pottery, or the figures on a pack of cards.

Protection lasts five years and may be renewed for further five-year periods, up to a maximum of 25 years.

Like the Community trademark, the EU also has a COMMUNITY DESIGN. The Community system of protecting industrial design offers solid, uniform protection throughout the EU, through a single legislation, which is overseen by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM).

The cost of the Community design is very reasonable, when compared with separate registration in all the EU countries.