What can be register as an industrial design?
A design of an industrial or artisanal product, such as: school chair, clothes, home appliance, desk, bookcase, lamp…
What should be the main purpose of the industrial design?
Special appearance, when a design only has technical function it cannot be registered.
Apart from an only technical design, what cannot be registered?
- The design that has the intellectual property right of another, for example trademark or copyright
- The design which may infringe public order or morality
- The design containing public interest elements, like the national flag or national coat of arms
Who is the owner of the industrial design?
As a general rule, the owner is the designer or the designers that participated in its creation.
Why do I have to register?
Registration grants protection over the design, preventing someone else from using your creation.
Which are the main conditions for registration?
- Novelty: when it hasn’t been disclosed or made accessible to the public anywhere. (Rules regarding patent disclosure may also apply here)
- Singularity: taking always into account the designer’s liberty at the moment of the creation, this condition demands that the design impresses the general public in a different way.
How long does the registration last?
Industrial design registration is valid for a total of fifteen (15) years, during this period it must be renewed every five (5) years.
What is the registration process?
- Application before the National Office of Industrial Property (Oficina Nacional de la Propiedad Industrial or ONAPI):
- Applicant, designer(s) and/or representatives
- Description of the design
- Graphics of the design
- Name of the design
- Classification of the design according to the Locarno Agreement
- Formal examination
- Publication of the application: grants 30 days for others to oppose the registration
- Substance examination
- Publication of the registration concession
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