Requirements for Obtaining Design Rights

Novelty

A prerequisite for obtaining a registered design right is that the product protected by the design right must be novel at the time that the application relating to it is filed. This means that another similar design cannot have been disclosed before the filing date of the registration application. For instance making the design public in a registration procedure, by exhibiting it or by using it in business activities are considered as disclosure.

Also an unregistered design right requires that the design is novel. A similar design shall not have become known before the date on which the design is made public.

Grace period—Exception to the novelty requirement

The legislations of some countries contain provisions relating to a so-called Grace period. Grace period means that any acts of disclosure performed by the creator of the design or his or her assignee 12 months before the filing date of the application do not always form an obstacle for registration.

It should, however, be taken into account that this provision relating to Grace period does not exist in the design right legislation of all countries. This means that the disclosure of the design before the filing of the registration application relating to it might prevent the protection of the design in some important country.

Individual nature

In addition to novelty, it is required that the design is sufficiently different from the designs that have been known before, i.e. that it is unique.

According to the Finnish design right legislation as well as the design right regulations of the European Community, a design is considered to be inventive if the overall impression that an expert user gains from it differs from the overall impression created by the previously known designs. Designs are considered to be alike, if they are only separated from each other by non-essential details. The crucial issue here is therefore the overall impression, which is evaluated on a case-by-case basis.