Industrial design – what should a designer know about it?

Designers, engineers and creators of new products often come across the term “industrial design”. It is an important element of intellectual property protection that plays a significant role in securing creative concepts and innovations. In this extensive article, we will address the issue of what an industrial design is, how it differs from a patent, why it is crucial for designers, what benefits the registration of an industrial design brings and what benefits it brings.

What is an industrial design?

An industrial design is a form of intellectual property protection that focuses on the appearance or ornamentation of industrial products. The scope of protection includes various visual features, such as lines, contours, shapes, colors, and other elements that give the product its unique character. An industrial design can be applied to finished products, but also to materials used in the production process.

Industrial design and product material

It is worth emphasizing that an industrial design is not limited to finished products. It can also cover materials used in the production process (so-called product material). Therefore, designers must be able to identify which elements of their designs qualify for industrial design protection.

The difference between an industrial design and a patent

The difference between an industrial design and a patent is important and is key knowledge for designers.

• An industrial design focuses on the visual and aesthetic aspects of a product. It protects its external appearance and features that give it an individual character.
• A patent concerns technical solutions, inventions and processes. It protects specific technological innovations and product functions.

A designer must understand which form of protection is appropriate for his design, whether it is an industrial design or a patent.

Why are industrial designs important to designers?

Designers put a lot of effort into creating unique and attractive designs. An industrial design allows these creative ideas to be protected from unauthorized copying by competitors.

Products with unique industrial designs can be more attractive to customers, which can increase their market value. The appearance and aesthetics of a product are often just as important as its functionality.

Why is it worth protecting an industrial design?

By registering an industrial design, it gives designers exclusive rights to use that design. This means that they can control its use on the market and decide who can use it. What’s more, it allows you to gain additional benefits by selling the rights from the registration. The owner of a protected industrial design can license its use to other companies. This opens up an additional source of income.

What does the industrial design registration process look like?

The industrial design registration process involves several steps:

1. First, the subject of the application must be specified. The application must precisely describe what we want to protect as an industrial design, including all details regarding the appearance and visual features, and must be supplemented with the appropriate data about the applicant. More information about the appearance of the application and the necessary documents can be found below.
2. Then, the industrial design application must be submitted to the Patent Office, for example to the PATENT OFFICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND al. Niepodległości 188/192 in Warsaw.
3. The Office then checks the application formally by verifying the completeness of the submitted documents. If any deficiencies are detected in the application, you will be requested to supplement or remove them within a specified period. If you do not provide the missing documents within the specified time, the Patent Office will discontinue the proceedings. In the event of non-payment of fees, the Patent Office will set a deadline of 14 days for their settlement. If you do not pay the fees within the specified period, the Patent Office will terminate the proceedings.
   The Office checks the application on its merits and whether the conditions required to obtain the right to register an industrial design have been met. If the applicant has made any additions or corrections, their admissibility is assessed.
4. The next step is to pay the registration fee related to the industrial design registration process. Official fees at the Polish Patent Office:
   For the application (to be paid within 1 month from the date of receiving confirmation from the Polish Patent Office about the acceptance of the application) amount to PLN 300 per design.
5. The fee for the first 5-year protection period (to be paid within 3 months from the date of receiving the conditional decision from the Polish Patent Office) amounts to PLN 150 (the fee for the second 5-year period amounts to PLN 250 and so on).
6. The publication fee for publishing information on the registration of the design in the Patent Office News of the Republic of Poland amounts to PLN 70 (to be paid at the same time as the fee for the first 5-year protection period). To sum up, all official fees for the first 5-year protection period amount to PLN 520 per design.
   When the industrial design application has been properly prepared, the Patent Office issues a decision granting the right of registration. However, in order to obtain the registration of the industrial design, it is necessary to make a payment for the first period of protection. If you do not pay the fee within the established deadline, the Patent Office will consider that the decision granting the right of registration of the industrial design expires.
7. If the application is accepted, the industrial design is registered, which gives the designer exclusive rights to use this design.
8. Then the Patent Office issues a certificate of registration of the industrial design, which contains a certificate of granting the right of registration, providing the entitled person, the registration number and a description of the subject of the design. Protective descriptions of industrial designs may be available to third parties for a fee in the form of prints. The Office also announces the registration in the Patent Office News:Registration number: date and number of the application.
9. Industrial design class symbol.
10. Description of the subject of the design.
11. Surname and first name or name of the entitled person.
12. Surname and first name of the creator of the design and an illustration of the industrial design.
13. Protective description. and announces the registration in the Patent Office News

Rights from industrial design registration

Registering an industrial design with the Patent Office gives the designer exclusive rights to use that design in a specific geographical area (in Poland, the entire territory of the Republic of Poland). This means that no one else can use an identical design without the owner’s consent. These rights are protected for a specified period, usually from the date of filing the industrial design. The Polish Patent Office issues a decision granting the right to register the design after determining that the application has been properly prepared. The right to register the design is granted for 25 years from the date of filing the application with the Patent Office, divided into five-year periods. The right to register an industrial design is granted on condition that the fee for the first protection period is paid. The condition for maintaining protection is to pay the fees for subsequent protection periods.

What does an industrial design application to the Patent Office look like?

The industrial design registration process takes place when we submit the appropriate application form to the Patent Office, which can be downloaded from the website of the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland at: https://uprp.gov.pl/pl/formularze-do-wydruku. Importantly, each page of the application should be signed by the applicant or proxy.

The industrial design application should contain information about the applicant, i.e. the surname, first name and address of the applicant should be provided. In the case of legal persons and organizational units that do not have legal personality, also the REGON identification number, if the applicant has one. If the application is filed by an authority or entity on behalf of the State Treasury, the name of the authority or entity should be provided. If the applicant acts through a proxy, the surname, first name and address of the proxy should be provided. The proxy may be a patent attorney or a person providing cross-border services – this person’s details should be provided. Only in the case of natural persons, the proxy, in addition to the patent attorney, may also be a co-rightful person, parents, spouse, siblings or descendants and persons in an adoption relationship with the party. Also, a copy of the applicant or proxy must be included if the applicant acts through a proxy.

If the applicant is not the creator of the industrial design, it is necessary to indicate the basis for obtaining the right from the registration of the design, then an application for granting the right from the registration of the design must be included. The surname, first name and address of the creator of the industrial design must also be provided.

Then, you must attach an illustration of the industrial design with a clear indication of the essential features of the design, and if part of the product has a new and individual character, the illustration of the industrial design must present the entire product. These can be, for example, drawings, photographs, computer visualizations or samples of textile material. The application may be accompanied by a description explaining the illustration of the industrial design, which includes, for example, the typographic fonts used, features of lines, contours, shapes, colors (the description should refer only to the features of the industrial design shown in the illustration). Detailed information on the method of presenting industrial designs can be found in the guidelines on the presentation of industrial designs adopted by Poland on April 15, 2016 under the CP6 convergence program – Common Communication. A single industrial design application may cover different variants of a product with common essential features. The maximum number of such variants in a single application is ten, except when these variants constitute a full set of different products. All variants of the design covered by the application should be presented in a single illustration. The designation of the subject of the application (design title) should be the generic name of the product in which the design is contained or applied. When choosing the design title, the terminology contained in the Locarno Classification administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization should be used. The currently applicable 11th edition of the classification includes 32 classes and 219 subclasses (link to the Polish version). When choosing the appropriate term, you can use the DesignClass database harmonized with the Locarno Classification, also available in Polish (link). The design title should not describe the features of the design or add a proper name. You should also attach proof of entitlement or permission to use in trade the signs referred to in art. 1291 sec. 1 pt. 8–11 of the Industrial Property Law (symbols of the Republic of Poland – coat of arms, colours or anthem, symbols of a foreign country, symbols of a religious, patriotic or cultural nature, officially recognised designations – such as a quality or safety mark) if the submitted industrial design contains such designations,

Additionally, if the applicant applies for the grant of prior priority, it is necessary to provide a declaration of the applicant, containing the date and country of application abroad, as well as information on the name, place, country and nature of the exhibition at which the industrial design was presented, together with the date of issue of the design. If the application concerns multiple applicants who do not act through a common proxy, the person authorised to receive correspondence should be indicated. In the case of an application filed by a legal person or a body acting on behalf of the State Treasury, the person who signs the application on behalf of the applicant (if they are not the proxy) should also provide their official position.

After collecting all the documents, a list of attached documents should be made and attached to the application.

How long does the industrial design registration process take?

The design registration procedure in the Polish Patent Office (UPRP, PL) takes about 6 months (after protection is granted, it lasts from the date of filing the design with the UPRP.

Is the industrial design protected internationally?

An industrial design can be protected in the territory in which it was registered. However, there are international agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, which make it easier to register an industrial design in many markets with a single application. This makes it much easier for designers to protect their designs on an international scale.