According to the industrial design law, a design is a two or three dimensional appearance of a whole product or a part of the product. A design is composed of features such as lines, contours, colors, shape, surface structure or the material of the product itself or its embellishment. Features of a product that are due to its technical function only, are not protected by industrial design law.

Two and three dimensional designs, including typographical characters, which are not protectable by patent or utility model law due to the technical nature of these IP rights, can be protected as design patents. A design patent protects the visual impression of a product on the informed user whereas a patent or utility model protects its technical features.

Protection of industrial designs can be secured by application and registration with the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA), with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), with the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) or with any national patent office, depending on the country or geographical region for which protection is sought. The responsible office only examines formal requirements of the application, but neither novelty nor individuality of the design. Whether a design meets these requirements will only be determined in a law suits when the opponent questions novelty and individuality of the design.

Our in-house lawyer and patent attorney will advise you as independent professionals on developing a protection strategy that is right for you. They will be happy to assist you in selecting suitable images for the application and will take care of the application to the relevant offices on your behalf. Once your design has been entered in the relevant register, they will offer to take over the monitoring of deadlines for your design rights and will ensure that the maintenance fees are paid on time.