Industrial designs (WIPO)

An industrial design (design patent) is the result of creative actions of a man in the area of design development and styling.

The objects of protection may be a shape, an image, the colour score or their combination which determine the appearance of the product and are used to meet aesthetic and ergonomic needs of people.

Industrial design registration is necessary to obtain the state-guaranteed privileges to use an industrial design including the enforcement of the right to prohibit the use of such intellectual property asset by third parties.

Both individuals and/or legal entities may be the holders of the property rights for an industrial design. Property rights for an industrial design may simultaneously belong to several legal entities and/or individuals. However, an author or the authors have a nonproperty right of author for an industrial design, which is an inalienable right and is subject to permanent protection.

An image (images) of claimed product is indicated in the first place in a title of protection, which is a design patent or a certificate of industrial design registration, because it is the appearance that determines the scope of rights protected by a title for the indicated intellectual property asset. When submitting an application, some countries ask for the description of the protected design, which usually is not published.

The territory covered by the protection of the registered design is always indicated in the title of protection. It may include one or several countries.

The validity of registration of the design patent is 10-20 years depending on the country (if relevant state fees are paid periodically).

It is important to remember the following: it is better to invest in protection of your original design before the start of sale of goods and services than to spend significantly more money in future to protect your products from unscrupulous competitors and intellectual property dealers.

The international industrial designs are registered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) under the Hague Agreement, which unites more than 60 countries worldwide (as of January 2017).

An international application shall be submitted directly to the International Bureau of WIPO. When submitting the application, a single international fee shall be paid depending on the number of selected countries.

The International Bureau of WIPO examines a claimed design only for meeting absolute criteria (application correctness, correspondence to the principles of morality and ethics, etc.) Based on the results of the examination, the certificate is issued which de facto has the status of the priority document.

Further, the International application shall be examined by every national authority selected by the applicant for meeting provisions of the local legislation. Based on the results of the examination by the International Bureau of WIPO, an applicant receives a notice on design registration or a provisional refusal to register the design.

A provisional refusal of the design registration may be contested in the relevant authority, usually by engaging a national patent attorney.

An international registration can be renewed by submitting a request for the renewal to the International Bureau of WIPO and after paying the due fee.

The maximum validity of a certificate is 25 years but each member country defines its own term of the certificate. Certificate maintenance fee must be paid every five years.