Introduction:
From amongst the wide spectrum of Intellectual Property Rights, Industrial Designs are the most tangible of them all, as they form an integral part of the end result, the outcome of which are products. Industrial Designs therefore form an enduring and lasting legacy of a business, ensuring a continuum of its legacy. Hence, a customer’s relationship is formed by the Brand Imagery through its innovative designs, resulting in brand attention, brand retention, brand recall and finally brand association. A well designed product is akin to customer delight and yearning for more.
The Design Paradigm:
Industrial Designs are an integral part of our lives as they play an indispensable part in our daily activities. It is heartening to know that the design paradigm has shifted from mere aesthetics at any costs to responsible designs.
This paradigm embodies the following aspects:
Sustainable Design: is not a luxury anymore but a necessity, so industrial designs using non-replaceable and non-replenishing resources in crafting sustainable articles contributing towards a greener, cleaner and better planet is the need of the hour. This line of thinking extends to long-term investments too, such as buildings, automobiles and the like, offering energy efficiency along with elegance.
Ergonomics: forms another part in offering better and productive lives, enriching and increasing longevity of users along with comfort combined with good looks thereby leading to lesser medical problems, specially injuries.
Accessibility: Almost parallel to functionality is accessibility which means designs should cater to people with varying degrees of abilities and challenges with minimal intrusionand adaptation.
Perception:is all about how an object is viewed and received. It’s based on subjective perception that makes an article alluring. So a lot of research and development goes into the perceivability partof designing a product so as to eliminate as many intrinsic biases as it may portray, which could be religious, contextual, subjectivity et.al. This exercise makes the design appeal to a wide spectrum of users across the board.
Anthropomorphic Forms: Interestingly, human minds’ predisposition towards perceiving, recalling and retaining certain forms and shapes over others, makes for interesting designing such as those resembling faces etc. Thus ‘contouring’ designs in such a way so as to make them more appealing results in a lasting relationship and entices trust and empathy even.
All in all, the bottom line of any well designed product will be sensibility and simplicity along with durability. Hence ‘bang for buck’ would be the mantra to interest all age groups across varying parameters.
Definition:
WIPO defines Industrial Designs as:
‘In the legal sense, an industrial design constitutes the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an article.
An industrial design may consist of three dimensional features, such as the shape of an article, or two dimensional features, such as patterns, lines or colour.’
At the same time World Design Organisation defines Industrial Designs as:
‘Industrial Design is a strategic problem-solving process that drives innovation, builds business success, and leads to a better quality of life through innovative products, systems, services, and experiences. Industrial Design bridges the gap between what is and what’s possible. It is a trans-disciplinary profession that harnesses creativity to resolve problems and co-create solutions with the intent of making a product, system, service, experience or a business, better. At its heart, Industrial Design provides a more optimistic way of looking at the future by reframing problems as opportunities. It links innovation, technology, research, business, and customers to provide new value and competitive advantage across economic, social, and environmental spheres’.
Protection:
Benefits of World Wide Design protection:
Essentialities of World Wide Design Protection and Registration:
It is important to register designs in as many countries as possible because:
www.paritypatent.com with its colleagues in 135 countries is equipped in filing international designs applications in the applicant’s chosen countries.
World Wide Protection of Industrial Designs:
Worldwide, Industrial Designs are protected through various international treaties and conventions such as:
From amongst the above, the Hague System of International Design Registration is most important for those looking to cover many countries at one go. The remaining three are self explanatory and are the best choices when the applicant wishes to register their designs in countries not party to the Hague Agreement.
The Hague System:- Some Important Pointers:
(i) Who may apply: Members that are party to the Hague Union.
(ii) Filing of the application: A single application is filed with the International Bureau of WIPO.
(iii) The Result: A single international registration with individual effect in each of the members of the Hague Union which may be States (Countries) or Intergovernmental Organisations as designated.
(iv) The Benefit:
(v) Components of the Hague Agreement:
(vi) Important Aspect: The Hague System cannot be used to protect an industrial design in a country not party to the Hague Agreement. The above Acts are applicable to a designated contracting party from amongst the 1960 and 1999 Acts.
(vii) Further Information: Detailed information regarding filing of International applications, examination, publication of applications, remedies attains refusal of registration of applications, procedure upon grant of the application, term of protection et.al., please visit our website www.paritypatent.com which contains detailed guides and F.A.Q.s.