Industrial designs protect the ornamental features of an object, i.e., the design of a product, by granting a temporary exclusive right to its owner, limited to the aesthetic aspects.

 

The functional aspects of the object have little, if any, relevance in determining the scope of protection of industrial designs. In Brazil, industrial designs must be new and original when compared to other objects already known in the state of the art, and their protection is obtained through registration, whose validity can be extended to a maximum period of 25 years.

 

It is an important protection tool to restrain the undue reproduction of a product design, whether literal copies or imitations that may lead to error and confusion.

 

Our firm assists clients from the studies on the possibility of obtaining industrial design protection to the post-granting stages, in eventual discussions and disputes related to the validity of the registration and infringement of rights. Among the activities performed by our team, some of them are highlighted below:

 

• Evaluation of registrability requirements with searches in specialized industrial design databases;

• Delineation of protection strategies;

• Filing, monitoring and maintenance of registration prosecution in Brazil and abroad;

• Evaluation of risks of infringement of industrial design registrations;

• Expert investigations involving industrial design registrations.