Industrial design is the visible appearance of a product or part of a product, defined by the features of shape, lines, pattern, ornamentation, colour combination or combination thereof.
Registered designwhich is new and original:
- A design is new if, prior to the filing date of the application or, as the case may be, prior to the priority date, there is no other known identical design which has become generally available through publication, use, registration or disclosure by any other means anywhere in the world. Designs shall be considered identical if their features differ only in non-essential elements
- A design shall be deemed to be original if the overall impression it creates in the mind of the informed user differs from the overall impression created by a design which became generally available before the date of filing of the application for registration or where priority is claimed before the priority date. In assessing originality, account shall be taken of the degree of freedom of the designer in creating the design.
It does not register:
- Design contrary to public policy or good morals
- Design whose features are determined solely by the technical function of the product
- A design the features of which are determined by the need for the product to which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied to be mechanically connected or placed in, around or against another product so that both products perform their functions, except a design the purpose of which is to make possible the multiple assembly or connection of interchangeable products in a modular system
Right to design shall be acquired by its registration with the Patent Office from the date of filing of the application for registration. The term of validity of the design registration shall be 10 years from the date of filing of the application. The registration may be renewed for 3 consecutive periods of 5 years each.