Industrial Designs

  • 1

    Polish industrial designs

    A procedure leading to the obtaining of a right in registration includes drafting an application, preparing drawings and filing the application with the Polish Patent Office. If there are no formal obstacles, a right in registration is usually granted within a year.

  • 2

    Registered Community Designs

    Aims to obtain design protection in the European Union. Proceedings include preparing drawings and filling an application with the OHIM. If there are no formal obstacle for grant, a certificate of protection is issued within 5-10 days from the filing date.

The new and original 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.

industrial design

Any industrial or handicraft item, including inter alia parts intended to be assembled into a complex product, packaging, get-up, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces, but excluding computer programs.

product

 

Industrial designs mostly protect the external appearance of a new product possessing an individual character and protection covers only these features that on an informed user produce a different overall impression from any design already known. Furthermore protection does not cover the features of a product that are solely dictated by its technical function.

On the other hand, since industrial design applications are not examined during patent office proceedings, a right in design registration is granted relatively quickly. Possible substantial evaluation may take place only during the process of the invalidation of a right in industrial design registration initiated by any third party having a legal interest to lodge such an invalidation request.

Specialized central domestic courts (in Poland it is the Central Court for the European Union trade marks and Community Designs) are responsible for examining cases related to infringements of Registered Community Designs.

We have helped our clients to file almost a hundred industrial designs both as Polish and as Registered Community Designs. We have also successfully handled invalidation cases with respect to designs that lacked novelty or originality.