Industrial Design Registration
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When developing products, industrial design becomes one of the most essential aspects. After all, it is responsible for ensuring both the appearance and the shape of what is to be produced. We are therefore talking about an element linked to the differentiation and competitiveness of a company.
Since it is such an important element, it needs to be registered, as required by law. As soon as you register your industrial design, you protect all rights to its design. Therefore, there are many guarantees and commercial advantages to this action. At the same time, you have to follow some rules to ensure that everything is done correctly.
Therefore, the best way to deal with this is to acquire more knowledge on the subject. Here, you will learn everything that is important about industrial design registration. Keep reading!
But you must be wondering: what is this registration? Why is it important? How do I make the request? Just keep reading and we will answer all these questions!
What is industrial design registration?
First of all, it is important to define the concept of industrial design: a type of intellectual creation totally related to the aesthetic characteristics of objects that can be produced industrially. Therefore, it corresponds to the appearance of the product or even to a set of colors and lines that give it an original and, of course, new look.
In other words, industrial design is the design of the product. As you may already know, an innovative design is a very important and necessary element to attract customers, since, by bringing together original and innovative visual characteristics, the product begins to occupy a very special place in the memory of customers, thus gaining great value in the competition with competitors.
Now, let’s talk about industrial design registration. Well, it is one of the ways to legally protect a design creation.
You may be wondering: who grants industrial design registration? It is the INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property), in accordance with articles 94 to 121 of the Industrial Property Law (Law No. 9,279 of 05/14/96). Remember that the INPI is the agency responsible for protecting industrial designs, trademarks, patents and many others.
It is important to note: industrial design registration does not apply to the function of the object in question (protected by means of a patent), nor to a trademark (find out how to register a trademark).
How does the registration process work and why do it?
Learn about the steps involved in the industrial design registration process below:
- Filing (registration request submitted to INPI, a process number is generated);
- Formal Examination (examination to check documents);
- Granting (which occurs approximately 3 months after the filing date). INPI, upon verifying the prerequisites, will grant the registration, providing for the exclusive right to exploitation for an initial period of 10 years, which may be extended for an additional 3 times at the request of the holder. Each extension is equivalent to 5 years, therefore, there is a possibility that the registration will be valid for 25 years;
- Merit analysis (Optional).
It is important to note that industrial design registration has some specific features. Even if you obtain protection, the National Institute of Industrial Property does not perform the actual analysis to determine whether the product is truly original.
For this reason, the owner may request an examination of the merits of his product during the period of validity of the registration. This examination will verify whether the product actually meets all the requirements of novelty and originality. This action may be strategic and provide greater security to the owner, because if the INPI considers that such aspects are not included in this project, a process may be initiated, resulting in the nullity of the registration.
Five-year periods and extensions
Furthermore, it is important to mention that, in order for the industrial design registration to be maintained, the holder must pay a five-year fee (every 5 years). After 5 years of the registration being valid, payment must be made (the deadline is from the 4th to the 5th year from the filing date) for the second five-year period.
As for the other fees, these will be paid together with the extension request. Therefore, unlike the patent holder, the industrial design holder will only have to pay an amount to the INPI if he wants to extend the registration.
Do you think it’s a lot and that it’s difficult to complete all the steps without making mistakes? Don’t worry, because you can count on VILAGE to provide all the support you need at each stage of the process.
Protect your industrial design with VILAGE and ensure all your rights with certification, transparency and agility.
After all, what can be registered as an industrial design?
It is possible to register as an industrial design the ornamental plastic form of an object or even the ornamental set of colors and lines that can be applied to the product, thus ensuring a totally original and new look in the external configuration, which can serve as a type of industrial manufacturing.
It is important to clarify that the presentation of the application can, in fact, be colored. However, colors do not receive protection, which means that the ornamental pattern or configuration will be protected regardless of the colors that were used.
The Indication of Origin shows the origin of the product or service, based on the reputation of the place, normally known for manufacturing the item, or for providing the service, based on the tradition and history of the place. Therefore, it is the public recognition that a given product or service from a given region has a differentiated quality.
The Denomination of Origin, in turn, is granted when the qualities of the service or product are essentially or exclusively influenced by the characteristics of that region, whether human or natural factors. Thus, environmental factors, such as altitude and climate, and the peculiarities of the location, end up influencing the quality of the product, the final result, in a measurable and identifiable way.
It is worth noting that, unlike what happens in Europe, where Geographical Indications and Designations of Origin are only for food and agricultural products, here in Brazil stones, handicrafts and minerals are also included. The country therefore opens up a large field for IT (Information Technology) companies.
What products can be registered?
You can register any product that has an original and new appearance. What does this mean? It must have a visual configuration that is distinctive from other known objects.
So, in short: anything that results in an ornamental pattern (two-dimensional) that can be applied to an object or surface or to an external configuration of a three-dimensional object will be able to receive industrial design registration.
Let’s think about cars, for example. Exclusive design is, without a doubt, a very important and necessary item to add a high value to this product. And obviously you wouldn’t want third parties to reproduce a piece that you created, would you? Check out more examples of what you can register as an industrial design:
- Jewelry and fashion accessories;
- Watches;
- Industrial machinery;
- Decorative items;
- Furniture;
- Lighting items;
- Packaging;
- Glasses;
- Prints;
- Etc.
What cannot be registered?
Any industrial design that is contrary to good customs and morals or that offends the image or honor of people is not eligible for protection. Furthermore, it cannot violate beliefs, freedom of conscience, feelings worthy of veneration and respect, ideas or religious worship.
The necessary vulgar or common form of an object or that determined by functional or technical considerations cannot be registered either. Patterns or objects that are purely artistic, that is, those that cannot be reproduced on an industrial scale, such as products obtained by hand, are also exempt from registration.
The geographical name registered with the National Institute of Industrial Property becomes the element that differentiates the service or product. It can be either the official name or the customary or traditional name that designates the geographical area where the GI (Geographical Indication) activity is carried out, as long as it is duly proven in the application for protection with the INPI.
It is important to mention that consumers increasingly want to consume origin, know who the people behind the product labels are, support sustainable cultivation and understand how a product reaches them. These are questions that geographical indications can answer perfectly.
What are the requirements for protection?
The requirements for industrial design protection are: originality, novelty and unity. Learn about each of them!
The originality requirement
This requirement is closely related to what we will talk about next (novelty). The design will be considered original when it has a truly new visual presentation, which is very different from that of other pre-existing objects.
The requirement of novelty
This requirement is met only when the object is not accessible to the public before depositing it. Our country’s law requires absolute novelty, which means that the object must be novel both here and abroad.
The unity requirement
The application must refer to only one object. Up to 20 configuration variations are permitted, but they must maintain the same main distinctive feature and, of course, be intended for the same purpose.
How we ensure the security of your industrial design registration
Registering an industrial design is the only sure way to protect yourself from third-party reproduction. If you have created it and want to be the only person authorized to manufacture and sell it, there is no alternative but to register it as soon as possible.
And we have good news for you: we follow each step of the process in a personalized manner, with a team of experts carrying out everything from analysis — in order to understand whether the creation can be registered —, prior art research, filing the application with the INPI and monitoring. This way, you won’t miss the renewal and you won’t fail to meet all legal deadlines.
It is important to highlight that all our services are certified by BSI Brazil in the operating requirements of the Quality Management System in accordance with ISO 9001.
Frequently Asked Questions
The registration holder has the right to prohibit other people from using the creation, producing, selling, importing or helping third parties to carry out such acts without his consent.
This registration is only valid within the national territory.
The validity period is 10 years, and can be extended for 3 periods of 5 years. In addition, the process requires payment of five-year installments. Remember that from the 4th to the 5th year from the date of filing, you must pay the second five-year installment. The following five-year installments must be paid together with the extension fees, so that the registration will remain valid.
Well, to begin with, in addition to being a way of protecting the creation from possible copies, protection will guarantee the owner of the design the return on their investment in the creation of the new product and in market research.
Furthermore, it encourages the creation of more aesthetically diverse and attractive products. Finally, the development of new shapes makes industrial products have a much greater visual appeal compared to the competition and, of course, the consequence of this is an increase in commercial value, further facilitating marketing and commercialization.
Industrial design registration can be requested by individuals or legal entities. The application can be made by the author himself, his successors or heirs.
The ideal and most advisable option is to file the industrial design first. However, the law allows disclosure, as long as it is done up to 180 days before filing the registration application. And, of course, it must be promoted by the author or by other people based on information obtained directly or indirectly from the author. In such cases, it is possible to state the conditions of disclosure in the filing form (Art. 12 and 96 of the Industrial Property Law).
