Foreign design system

Australian Designs System

 

1. In the beginning

Below you will find useful information to assist you in protecting your design rights in Australia.

We hope that this page will be of assistance to you in protecting your intellectual property overseas. Please help us.

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2. Types of Designs

There are two types of designs:

(1) Ordinary design

(2) Multiple designs

・Only those that fall under any of the following categories can be filed as one application.

  • a) A single design for one article
  • b) A unique design common to multiple items (such as a knife and fork set)
  • c) Multiple designs on one article
  • d) Multiple designs relating to multiple articles that belong to the same class of the Locarno Classification. Object of protection: Shape, outline, pattern, decoration of the article.
    What is not protected: Objects with an indefinite texture, material, or size, or continuous patterns of more than one unit

(1) Partial design

Designs are considered to relate to the overall appearance of a product, and design protection cannot be applied to only a part of an article. However, it is possible to use the Statement of Newness and Distinctiveness to describe the characteristic shape of a product as a feature of the design. Additionally, although it is not permitted under the Design Act, it has been a common practice to represent non-characteristic parts with broken lines.

(2) Non-physical designs and “active state” designs

App icons and GUIs are not physically applied to a specific item, but appear temporarily on the product screen. Currently, many GUIs are registered and published on the database. However, it is highly likely that the Australian Intellectual Property Office will not certify this as falling outside the definition of a "design", and in that case, even if it is registered, it will be considered a valid design right and cannot be exercised by others. I can not do.

3. Application Route

Applications can be filed via the Paris route and the period of priority is six months from the filing date.

4. Documents required for application

(1) Application form and drawings (Documents must be prepared in English.)
*Photos, digital images, and samples (limited to those that can be easily placed on a flat surface and easily saved with other documents) may be submitted in place of drawings.

(2) Documents to be submitted that are not required but may be required
a) Characterization statement
b) Prior art documents (if known at the time of filing the application)
c) A brief description of the product's use and functionality

5. Registrable designs

Designs that have novelty and distinctiveness

・Prior reference criteria must be published worldwide or used in Australia.

◇Grace period
The revised Design Act, which came into effect on March 2022.3.10, 12, introduced a XNUMX-month grace period.


- The application must be filed within 12 months of the first disclosure of the design.
(*If priority is claimed, the filing date isBased on priority dateIt will be. )
・The first disclosure of the design is by the designer, the holder, his successor, a person authorized by the designer or the holder, or the design has been plagiarized.


・Publication through design registration
・Disclosure by foreign offices and international organizations (WIPO)

*Applies to applications filed on or after March 2022, 3 or with a priority date on or after March 10, 2022
*For disclosures made before March 2022, 3, the 10-month grace period does not apply, but the following existing provisions will still apply.

  • The design will not be considered as a criterion for determining novelty or distinctiveness unless the design application is filed within six months from the date of first publication or use of the design.
  • The acts of public display and use at exhibitions as prescribed by the regulations (public display or use of a design in circumstances as prescribed by the regulations, with the consent of the registered owner of the design or a person predecessor in title to the registered owner);
  • Unwilling disclosure or use (disclosure or use of a design by another person who has derived or acquired the design from the registered owner or from a predecessor in title of the registered owner, without the consent of the registered owner of the design)

6. Publication of Application

There is no application publication system.

However, a design applicant must request publication or registration within six months from the filing date (or priority date), otherwise the application will lapse.

7. Examination

There is no substantive examination, and if the formality examination is satisfied, it will be registered.

Furthermore, in order to prove the registered design, a substantive examination can be requested after registration. (Design Law Articles 63 and 64) In that case, novelty and distinctiveness will be examined.

8. Objections

There is no objection system.

9. Registration

The validity period is 5 years from the filing date. The maximum period is 10 years from the filing date if you apply for an extension. However, if the application date is before June 2004, 6, the maximum period is 17 years from the filing date.

10. Exercise of Rights

Before a design owner can enforce his or her rights, the design application must be registered, substantively examined and certified.

11. Other

The related design system and secret design system are not adopted.

It is not a party to the Geneva Amendment of the Hague Agreement on the International Registration of Industrial Designs.

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