Industrial Design

The plastic ornamental format of an object or the set of lines and colors that may be applied to a product, enabling a new and original vision in its configuration. The designers name as industrial design whatever grants to the product better functionality as well as the ornamental format, which makes it more pleasant and desirable. But, for legal purposes, the name refers solely to the ornamental element; the functional creation may be a patent, in one of it two subdivisions.

The Industrial design registration aims to protect a format or a set of ornamental lines and colors, that enable a new and original visual result of an object subject to manufacture.

Novelty: As patents, the industrial is considered new whenever it has not become accessible to the public (state of the arts) before filing at the INPI, if it has not yet been protected by another party and is not in public domain. But if the design has differences from the other designs, which are already in the state of the arts, it can be considered new. It shall not be considered as state of the arts if the publishing of the invention or the utility model has been made during the 180 days that precede the registration or priority filing, by the creator itself, or by the INPI, through an official publication of the filing request without the consent of the owner, based on information obtained or deriving from acts of owner, or by third parties, based on information obtained directly or indirectly by the owner or due to acts of the owner.

Industrial Use or Application: Art. 98 of the CPI/96 excludes from industrial design Protection any purely artistic work. As so, the design should be for Industrial Use, similar to what occurs in patents. But there shall also be no protection the unique piece, that may not be industrially repeated, or the one who has mainly an aesthetic effect, and not as an accessory. In truth, this is the relevant criteria; an affiche reproduced to the thousands shall not discontinue being a graphic art.

Originality: The subject matter of protection should not only be new, or else, not in the state of the arts, but also distinctive with regards to it, a distinction degree comparable to the inventive act of the utility models.

Enough Description: The design, as well as the existing variations, should be presented in a format clear enough to enable its reproduction by a technician in the subject matter. The purely artistic works are not considered as industrial design and are protected by copyright and droits d´auteur, which we shall explain furthermore. May not be registered as industrial designs:

• whatever is contrary to morals and good customs or offends the honor or image of people, or is against freedom of conscience, belief, religious cults, or ideas and feelings that dignify respect and admiration;
• the necessary or vulgar form of an object or the one determined essentially for technical or functional considerations.

A design can be claimed in name of the creator, his heirs or successors, the transferee or whomever the Law, labor agreement or service rendering agreement establishes that is the owner.

Whatever is contrary to morals and good customs or offends the honor or image of people, or is against freedom of conscience, belief, religious cults, or ideas and feelings that dignify respect and admiration. The necessary or vulgar form of an object or the one determined essentially for technical or functional considerations.

Industrial designs may have a maximum protection of twenty Five years, The term is of 10 years initially, from the filing date, and may be successively extended for additional Five years.

It shall be individual per country, with or without priority*. In case of countries that are part of the European Community, the invention can be required and validated to all Europe.

* According to the Paris Convention, signed by Brazil and other 172 countries, the right to priority for trademarks requests in these countries is 6 (six) months from the presentation of the first requirement in one of the signing countries

The industrial design may be extinct and his object shall be in public domain due in the following hypothesis:

• termination
• waiver of its owner, except for third party rights
• lack of payment of the five year retribution
• if the owner resides abroad and not maintain a resident in the Country duly empowered to represent him administratively, judicially or receiving summons.