Design Law

A registered design protects the external appearance of a product or its components for up to 25 years. Additionally, logos, patterns, and software interfaces, for example, can be protected as designs. The prerequisites for registration (which largely does not require examination) and legal validity are the design’s novelty and individual character, with a 12-month grace period for prior self-disclosure.

Another unique feature is the “unregistered design.” It provides protection against identical imitations for three years following the publication of a design that has not been formally registered.

A design often represents a powerful intellectual property right, helping to prohibit competitors from imitating distinctive visible features of a product. Furthermore, designs are by no means limited to consumer goods: Even details of machinery can, in many cases, be protected, provided exclusion criteria are observed.