An industrial design is the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an article.

The design may consist of three-dimensional features, such as the shape of an article, or two-dimensional features, such as patterns, lines or color.

Industrial designs are applied to a wide variety of products of industry and handicrafts such as technical and medical instruments, watches, jewelry, houseware, electrical appliances, vehicles, architectural structures, textile designs, leisure goods and other luxury items.

To be protected under most national laws, an industrial design must appeal to the eye. This means that an industrial design is primarily of an aesthetic nature, and does not protect any technical features of the article to which it is applied.

Protection of Industrial Designs

1. In most countries, an industrial design must be registered in order to be protected under industrial design law. As a general rule, to be registrable, the design must be “new” or “original”. Different countries have varying definitions of such terms, as well as variations in the registration process itself. Generally, “new” means that no identical or very similar design is known to have existed before. Once a design is registered, a registration certificate is issued.
2. Depending on the particular national law and the kind of design, an industrial design may also be protected as a work of art under copyright law. In which case registration is not required. In some countries, industrial design and copyright protection can exist concurrently. In other countries, they are mutually exclusive: once the owner chooses one kind of protection, he can no longer invoke the other.
3. In certain countries, an industrial design may also be protected against imitation under unfair competition law.

Kind of protection provided by Industrial Designs

The owner of a protected industrial design is granted the right to prevent unauthorized copying or imitation of the design by others. This includes the right of making, offering, importing, exporting or selling any product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied. He may also license or authorize others to use the design on mutually agreed terms. The owner may also sell the right to the industrial design to someone else .

Term of industrial design

The term of protection under industrial design laws is generally ten years, with the possibility of further periods of renewal up to, in most cases, 15 years.

Territorial restrictions to Industrial Design protection

Generally, industrial design protection is limited to the country in which protection is granted. Under the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs, a WIPO-administered treaty, a procedure for an international registration is offered. An applicant can file a single international deposit with WIPO. The design will then be protected in as many member countries of the treaty as the applicant wishes.

Need to protect Industrial Designs

Industrial designs make an article attractive and appealing, thereby adding to its commercial value and increasing its marketability.

Protecting an industrial design:

- Helps to ensure a fair return on investment;

- Improves the competitiveness of a business against copying and imitating the design by competitors;

- Helps to increase the commercial value of a company, as successful industrial designs constitute business assets;
- Encourages creativity in the industrial and manufacturing sectors, as well as in traditional arts and crafts.