What is a design?

A design is the designing of a product. A design constitutes the particular features  of (a part of) a product's appearance, including amongst others the product's  decoration especially with regard to lines, contours, colors, form, structure or material.

Furthermore, the design has to be new and have individual character. Thus, there are lower boundaries to what may be protected - you could call it cheap designs - but apart from that products or parts of products within all trades and all categories can be protected. Classic examples are: packaging, medical equipment, furniture and consumer electronics, but now it is also possible to protect e.g. screen prints and fonts and, as mentioned, part of a product's appearance. The latter might be important if you are creating a new series of products based on a theme of variation, where the features characterizing the product are specific design elements which are recurring on all products, e.g. a control knob or a specific decoration.

The Design Act is based on the principle that in order to be protected a design has to be new. This test of novelty is a so-called objective global test of novelty.

The objective global test of novelty is to be interpreted so that a previously existing design only is novelty-defeating if the design has been known to the trade professionals within the EU. If it on the other hand is known within the EU it is a very reasonable claim that you cannot obtain exclusive right to a design that is already on the market.

Furthermore, there is a so-called grace period. If the designer himself has made public his design, e.g. displayed it on an exhibition to potential partners or on the Internet, then the test of novelty has still been fulfilled, if he within a year after making public his design files a design application. This provides you with an opportunity to receive some immediate reactions from the market before you start using money on design protection.