Industrial Design
To be registrable, a design must:
- Be new
- Have individual character.
A design is new if no identical (or similar) design has been published or publicly is disclosed in the geographical area that you want to register. For example, a design would not be considered new if it had been 'published' on the Internet on a site viewable in the geographical area before the date it was filed.
Designs can be registered for many products, for example:
- Cameras
- Handsets
- Toys
- Tools
Registering your design gives you exclusive rights for the look and appearance of your product. The existence of your design registration may be enough on its own to stop others from trying to exploit your design. If it does not, it gives you the right to take legal action to stop them exploiting your design and to claim damages.
A registered design allows you to:
- Sell your design and the intellectual property (IP) rights to it;
- License your design to someone else and retain the IP rights to it.
The public will also benefit from your design as it will be published. Others can gain useful information and see the latest developments in design technology which can be used freely once the design registration ceases.
Our specialists practice :
- Filling industrial design applications and obtaining registrations.
- Determining the applicability of industrial design protection.
- Enforcing industrial design against infringement.
- Defending clients against infringement charges by others, as well as representing clients in disputes resolution through either legal proceedings or negotiations.
If you do not register your designs you must rely on unregistered design right if someone copies your designs without permission.
We are able to file registered design applications in the Malaysia and elsewhere in the world through our network of foreign design attorney firms.