What can be protected
Design registration protects non-technical and purely artistic aspects of a product, a very important detail to understand, as protection may concern other property rights.
Thus, we are talking about external elements, decorations, colors, combinations of them, lines, curves, etc. In this way, the design of a bag, a car, a car part, a window, a table, a T-shirt, fabric with a design, etc. can be registered.
It is worth noting that this kind of protection is granted without any particular relationship with the product category as it protects “the idea of shape or configuration” regardless of the object to which it is applied. In practical terms, it is against the law to produce lighting fixtures in the shape of Italian luxury cars, for example.
Normally, the material used to construct the product is not claimed, so, if necessary, a competitor may use that material in another form. The protection is granted for 25 years from the date the application is filed and the relevant fees must be paid in advance every five years. Compared to the previous regulations, which have been largely forgotten, the scope of protection is much broader now.
