Design product value

You can register a design for any two- or three-dimensional industrial or handicraft article, and any relevant visible components, packaging, presentations, graphic symbols and/or typographical features that are new and have a distinctive character. Figurative drawings that can be applied to products for their embellishment, decoration or characterization can also be filed as designs. Our team will provide you all the support you need in identifying which elements of your product(s) can and should be protected as designs, and in filing all the necessary documents.

Italian models and designs

An Italian design (and/or model) provides protection throughout Italy and San Marino by virtue of the existing agreement therewith and, according to some doctrines, can be recognized by the Vatican City.

A single application can protect a multiple design, that is, a set of models and/or designs that fall within the same class of the Locarno International Classification for Industrial Designs.

A registration for a design is valid for 5 years from its application date, and can be renewed for up to a maximum of 25 years.

An unregistered design, on the other hand, is protected for only 3 years from the date on which the relevant product is first divulged to the public within the European Union, and cannot be renewed.

Community designs

A single Community design provides protection in all European Union member countries. It is therefore a very useful instrument if you operate in the EU and want to protect the shape or appearance of your products.

Furthermore, like in Italy, a single application can protect a multiple design covering a set of designs falling within the same Locarno class.

Here too, a design registration is valid for 5 years from the application date, and can be renewed for up to a maximum of 25 years and, although an unregistered design is automatically afforded protection, said protection is limited with respect to that of a registered design, and lasts for only 3 years.

International designs

International designs are governed by the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs. With a single application it is possible to designate different countries and thus obtain a registration that is equivalent to a national one in each of the designated countries. You can apply for protection international design even if you don’t already have a national design registration.

Once again, a single application can protect a set of designs that fall within the same class of the Locarno International Classification for Industrial Designs (i.e. a multiple design).

The duration of the design varies according to the specific laws of each individual designated country.

Copyright protection of designs

Any designs that have a particular creative character and artistic value can also be protected as authors’ rights. Authors’ rights are automatically recognized where any act of human creativity is expressed in a perceptible manner and on a verifiable date. The protection therefore automatically starts on said date. All countries that adhere to the Bern Convention of 1886 undertake to recognize these exclusive rights as long as paternity of the work is proven.

Copyright protection does prevent the manufacturing or sale of products made according to designs and models which were in the public domain before 19 April 2001, either because they had not been registered, or because registration rights on such designs had expired. The manufacturing and sale of such products is allowed to continue within the limits of prior use. We are therefore able to assist you in managing complex protection strategies throughout all the major markets in the World.