If your firm has designed a product ha v ing a distinct and characteristic design you may upon application receive the exclusive rights to commercially exploit the product. This exclusive right will also give the opportunity to license the production to third parties should you so wish. You may also manufacture your product abroad and import it for sale in Norway .
Design applications are less complicated than patent applications .
It is quicker, simpler and most often cheaper to apply for a design registration of the appearance of a product than to apply for a patent regarding the same. An application for a design registration solely contains exact drawings or photographs of a product seen from all relevant angles, and no text is require d in most countries (again with the notable exception of USA) .
Visual expression, not functionality,
It is solely the visual expression of the product, and not its functionality which may be protected by design registrations. This implies that you will have an exclusive right to the product as it would be considered by a non-skilled observer. It is thus possible to register the visual expression of say for instance a car, but not the visual expressions of aprts of the gear shaft. Mechanical components may however be patented, a speciality of ours, see "Patents". Some products may also be both patented and be registered as designs as they both have a distinctive shape, and a distinctive mode of functioning .
The importance of being earnest
Even though the design application is rather simple it is important to file in such a manner that the application fulfils the formal criteria. If the application is filed in an incorrect manner this may be to the detriment of the applicant, it may for instance contain images of poor quality, images of the wrong prototy pe, the images of the prototype may show de tails that should not be part of the production model, such as text or the like.
The prosecution of the application
The application is filed with the Norwegian Patent Office, and if one so desires, an examination may be requested. The application may however be granted without examination although we would usually not recommend this. Once the design is registered one has obtained the exclusive rights to the product.
Continuations abroad
At the latest 6 months after having filed a design application in Norway one may file for a design registration abroad concerning the same design. If for instance Norway and Sweden are your main marketing areas (say for a new type of snow shovel) it is possible to file an application solely in Sweden based on the Norwegian application. If one wishes to sell the product throughout Europe it is possible to file a European Community Design which is valid in most of Europe.
We often recommend filing of design applications in countries of manufacture such as China and Taiwan or the like such that there is a possibility of voiding illicit copying in these countries. Many of our clients do so as action against the copying of designs is taken in a resolute and timely fashion in these countries. There is thus an opportunity to act against piracy in tthese countries in a relatively cheap and swift manner.
Most countries allow the possibility to apply for design registrations, however the regulations differ somewhat from country to country. Not all coutries allow continuations as described above. Should you wish to file for design registrations abroad, we recommend that you contact our offices.
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