Designs or models

Drawings are two-dimensional representations. Models are objects or three-dimensional representations. A drawing or design may refer to the appearance of the product as a whole or only a particular element of the product. It may consist of two-dimensional elements such as motifs, lines or colours of the product, as well as three-dimensional elements such as the shape or texture of the product.

What can be filed as a design? What can be filed as a design?

Essentially, any characteristic that can be linked purely to the visual aspect of the product, that is not dictated by its function or the fact that it fits into or adapts to another component of a more complex product, may be filed as an industrial design. In countries within the European Union, the maximum duration of protection is 25 years per design.

The following are excluded from protection:

• purely decorative objects that do not have a useful purpose;
• ideas, as they have not yet been realised.

The applicant is considered as the holder of the right to a design that they are not obliged to market.

Why should you register a design?

Registration may be an appropriate means of protection if the visual aspect of a product is a selling point or forms an integral part of the image of a product. It may be important for marketing purposes to preserve the unique visual aspect of a product, which will make it possible to distinguish it from its competitors.

In some cases, protection through copyright may suffice. Nonetheless, it is important to know that this protection does not stop a third party from copying certain parts of an industrial design. The registration of the latter confers greater protection. It grants an exclusive right to realise, import, export, use or stock any product on which the industrial design is present or incorporated, or to let a third party use it by agreement.

Filing an industrial design gives the right to take legal action against those who infringe those rights to exclusivity, and therefore to claim damages for any prejudices sustained, which may consequently dissuade potential counterfeiters.

How to obtain protection

There are 2 types of registration:

• a simple design application for registration for a single design;
• a multiple design application for several designs that apply to objects within the same class under the International Classification for Industrial Designs.

Registration with the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property makes it possible to acquire exclusive rights to a design for the Benelux countries.

Outside of the Benelux countries, it is possible to obtain uniform protection in countries within the European Union by filing an application for a registered Community design.

Protection is also offered by the right to an unregistered design (unregistered Community design), which is acquired from the point that the design is made public within the European Union. It is limited to three years and protects against the design being copied.

If the applicant's market is located outside the European Union, there is an application procedure (The Hague System) for the international registration of industrial designs.