Design

Our services:

• Industrial Design Searches
• Providing Professional Pre-filing Advices and Comments
• Filing Industrial Design Applications
• Providing Professional Advices and Comments to the Official Actions and Examination Reports
• Handling Arguments to the Official Actions and Examination Reports
• Recordal Changes and Assignment of Industrial Design
• Monitoring Industrial Design Infringements
• Handling Industrial Design Maintenance and Renewals

 

What is a Industrial Design? 
Industrial Designs can be registered for a wide range of products, including computers, telephones, CD-players, textiles, jewelry and watches.

Registered Industrial designs protect only the appearance of products, for example the look of a computer monitor. Registration of the design does not protect the way in which the product relating to the design works. Protection for the way in which a product works may be available under patent law. Computer software is protected under copyright law.

Registered industrial design owners have the right to prevent others from manufacturing, importing, using, selling, or hiring the design product.

 

Why Register Industrial Design before Launch/Disclosure.
Novelty is one of the necessary conditions for granting a registered industrial design.

If something is known to the public, it is not a novel invention and non-patentable. For example, where the innovation is a product which has already been sold, or a process that has already been used, this prior use/disclosure will disqualify the innovation from being patentable.

It is therefore critical to ensure that there is no disclosure of an innovation before making a industrial design application therefor, or alternatively, any prior disclosure of an innovation should be protected by a confidentiality agreement, so as to preserve the novelty of the design.

The “newness” (novelty) of an innovation is assessed as at the date that you file your application for the design, or a priority filing date lawfully claimed in your application.

 

Territorial Protection
Once a design is registered, the owner will enjoy an exclusive right of the registered design and protected by law. Without your consent/license, any company and/or individual that uses the design and/or operation method claimed by the registered design for business purposes is a tort, and the owner can take legal action to require the infringer to stop the infringement and even compensate the economic loss.Registered design rights are strictly regional, and registered designs are only legally protected in the jurisdictions where they are registered. Hence, designs registered with the Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China or design registries of other jurisdictions do not automatically receive protection in Hong Kong. In order to obtain protection of a design in Hong Kong, you must register it in Hong Kong.

 

Documents required for Registration

• The Applicant's name and address.  
• The applicant's identity document, i.e. ID card or passport of an individual, and Business Registration or Certificate of Incorporation of a company.  
• The Inventors' name and address.  
• Name, details and/or drawings of the design.  
• Signed Power of Attorney is required in some jurisdictions; and notarized and/or legalization may also be required.

 

Gentle Remarks
Strategies that you may take, to protect your own design: -

• Register the designs in different jurisdictions, especially in those covered by your business.
• As a general principle, an employer owns the IP created by its employees in the course of their employment. It is prudent however to address this matter of ownership in an employment contract, as well as other customary IP related provisions:- - that the IP in work created by an employee in the course of employment is owned by the employer; - that the employee will sign all documents that the employer requires to record the employer’s ownership of the IP in work created by the employee, including after the employment relationship has ended; - that the employee will keep in confidence all the employer’s confidential information, including the IP, as well as trade secrets and know how, and will not misuse that confidential information, including the IP, trade secrets and know how.