A registered industrial design provides its owner with an exclusive right over an aesthetic appearance of a product (i.e. lines, contours, shape, ornamentation or even graphic symbols or typographic typefaces) and allows the owner to prevent third parties from producing, selling, storing or importing products embodying the protected design. In most jurisdictions, a registered design is valid 5 years from the date of filing and may be renewed every 5 years to a maximum of 25 years following the date of filing. A design may be registered on national, EU and international levels.

Are you interested in what the entire design registration process entails and the costs involved in obtaining and maintaining a registered industrial design? Learn what needs to be done on your end - and what can we do for you.

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An industrial design shall be protected, if it is new and has an individual character. An industrial design shall be considered new if no identical design has been made available to the public before the date of filing of the application for registration or the date of priority. Industrial designs shall be deemed to be identical if their features differ only in immaterial details. An industrial design shall have individual character if the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced on such a user by any industrial design, which has been made available to the public before the date of filing of the application for registration or the date of priority. A disclosure which is a result of information provided or action taken by the designer or his successor in title during 12-months period preceding the date of filing of the application or the date of priority shall not be taken into consideration.

The application may contain request for the registration of several industrial designs (multiple application of industrial design) which are included in one class of the international classification of industrial designs.

Filing:

The filing date of a design establishes the priority right vis-à-vis third parties with the following effects:

1. In the case when another application for an identical design is filed, the protection is granted to the applicant having an earlier priority right.
2. In the case when an industrial design application for an identical design is filed abroad by the same applicant within 6 months following the date of the first filing, such application is regarded as if it had been filed at the date of the first filing.

Examination of Formal Requirements:

After filing, the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic (or EUIPO when filing an EU application) examines whether the application meets the formal registration requirements. The Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic also carries out a substantive examination of novelty and individual character of the design. At EUIPO, no such substantive examination takes place.

Registration & Maintenance:

Upon conclusion of the examination, the design is registered. Both Czech and EU registered industrial design are valid for 5 years following the date of filing and may be renewed four times (a maximum duration of 25 years).

The registration process is managed by the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic and the territorial scope of the resulting registered industrial design is limited to the Czech Republic.

The registration process is managed by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the territorial scope of the resulting registered EU design covers all 27 member states of the European Union. Alternatively, the design may be protected without registration as an unregistered design with a protection lasting 3 years following the first public disclosure of the design.

An international registration under the Hague System managed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and provides an opportunity to register a design in up to 99 countries by way of a single international design application.

The registration process is managed by the IP office of the relevant country.