The design model

The design model, officially named Design or Model, is the outer appearance of the product, or of a part thereof, which results from the characteristics of the lines, contours, colors, shape, texture and/or materials of the product tself and/or its ornamentation.

The Design models therefore include also the former ornamental models.

It's crucial to obtan the protection of the design model for those who wants to market a product that he retains of particularly aesthetc appeal, in order to achieve the benefits from the exclusive on the sale of that product.

Registration is generally the legal title that serves to protect the Design model and gives the owner the exclusive right, also with regard to the designs or models that produce on the user the same impression of the one protected, to manufacture, market import or export the design model in question.

Once the application of registration of the design model is granted and so it becomes a registered Design model, it produces effects in the geographical area of competence of the office which has provided for the granting of such an application, from a given time determined by the applicable law. This time, in Italy, corresponds to that in which the application has been officially published or that in which it has been notified to a specific subject, if the notification is prior to the publication. 

The duration of the design model is highly variable with respect to the country.

The italian and community design models, upon payment of the corresponding fees, may remain in force up to 25 years from the date of filing of the application, while in the U.S. and China, for example, respectively up to 14 years from the grant date and respectively up to 10 years form the date of filing.

The design models, in order to be validly registered, must inspire on the user a different impression than design models made available to the public before the filing date of the relative application.

The italian and european law states that disclosures made by the author of the model or on the basis of information obtained by the same can not be taken into account, if they occurred within one year before the filing.