Design

Design

The appearance of your product can be protected as a design. A shape can be registered which differs from other existing shapes. Shapes which are capable of protection can be two-dimensional or three-dimensional.

Examples of designs

  • a product, assembled products or parts of a product
  • a product’s packaging or visual appearance
  • maps
  • ornamentation and graphical elements
  • icons
  • web design
  • logos
  • typographic fonts

Essentials: design protection

If you are planning to register your product as a design, you should take the following points relating to design protection into account:

  • Check the information from the DPMA as to whether it is possible to file for protection for the object in question.
  • In case of doubt regarding the application process, carry out a search for competitors’ filings.
  • Application must take into consideration the formal requirements of the Patent Office (see fact sheets)
  • Defend rights/safeguard unique position by means of regular design monitoring.
Request for Design Search

Key points at a glance:

  • Application for between one and a maximum of 100 designs, all of which must be in the same class of goods.
  • The design must be submitted as a photographic or other graphical representation; the features on which protection is based (without accessories, against a neutral background, good-quality image) must be clearly visible.
  • Term of protection: 5 years, renewable by 5 years a maximum of 4 times (total 25 years from filing date.
  • The DPMA does not conduct any substantive examination. By searching for competitor activities, however, it is possible to quickly find out about their design registrations.
  • Further information: www.dpma.de

Further information

A registered Community design (RCD) is effective in all countries of the European Union. We distinguish between registered and unregistered Community designs.

Applications for an RCD are filed at the European Union Intellectual Property Office in Alicante. Here, too, only a formal examination is carried out. The term of protection is initially 5 years and can be renewed 4 times for a further 5 years each time (maximum 25 years). It grants its owner an exclusive right: only they are permitted to exploit the design; third parties are prohibited from doing so. Priority can be claimed within 6 months. The Locarno Classification must be taken into account when indicating to which class the filed design is assigned.

An unregistered Community design (UCD) is protected against copying for 3 years from the day of its first presentation to industry specialists (disclosure) in the EU.

Further information:

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/de/designs-in-the-european-union.

Two options are available to you if you also require protection for your design outside Germany:

  • registration of a Community design
  • international registration.

Applications for registration of a Community design or international registration can be made either directly at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) or at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) or – for a fee – via the German Patent and Trade Mark Office.

Applications for registration filed directly with the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) in Geneva: only a formal examination is carried out prior to registration. Requirement for application: the applicant must be a national of any of countries participating in the “Hague Agreement concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs” or have their habitual residence/company headquarters in one of these countries. Following registration, design protection reverts to individual national designs, and the national design provisions of the respective member countries apply. The term of protection is initially 5 years and can be extended in accordance with the respective national regulations. Renewal is only possible via the WIPO.

Further information: www.wipo.int