Design

What can and cannot be protected as a design?

What can and cannot be protected as a design?

Design protects the view, the look of the product. It gives protection for the means the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation.

A design is protected to the extent that it is new and has individual character. If you copy the earlier design, no legal protection for such copied design will be given. All protected designs must differ to a reasonable degree from the earlier products in the market. The overall impression a design produces on the user must differ from the overall impression produced on a user by the earlier design.

What is not protected by the design registration is the technical functions, technical details of the product. The design shall not subsist in features of appearance of a product which are solely
dictated by its technical function. A design shall not subsist in features of appearance of a product which must necessarily be reproduced in their exact form and dimensions in order to permit the product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied to be mechanically connected to or placed in, around or against another product so that either product may perform its function.

Also, designs that are contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality will not be registered or protected. If a design of a product provokes racist actions or thoughts, discriminates against particular sex, such design will never be allowed for registration.