Designs protect the specific appearance (design) of a product or of a part thereof. Practically any design of an industrial item, as far as it is not yet on the market and as far it differs from comparable products on the market, can be design protected. For the designer there is a 12-month period of grace, which means that his own marketing activities within this period are not harmful. The technical function is irrelevant. In some cases patent protection can be supplemented by design protection. Images or 3D marks can also be protected by designs.

"Design" means the appearance of the whole or a part of a product.

Thus, the appearance of any industrial or handicraft item, including packaging and get-up, of, for instance, bakers' products, articles of clothing, bags, toothbrushes, patterns of textile fabrics, furniture, china and glassware, tools, bottles, clocks and watches, telephones, machinery, spectacles, musical instruments, games, toys and sports goods, lighting apparatus etc, can be design protected, as well as decorations, graphic symbols, logos and images.

However, computer programs are not considered "products" in the sense of the design law. Similarly, design protection does not encompass the features of appearance of a product which are solely dictated by their technical function.

A design must be new. Accordingly, no identical design must be made available to the public before the date of filing or the date of priority. However, there is a 12-month period of grace within which the designer or his successor in title may market their "products" without destroying the novelty.

A design must also have individual character, which means that its overall impression must differ from the overall impression produced by designs which have been made available to the public.

The term of protection of a registered Austrian design (as well as of a registered Community design) is five years as from the date of filing of the application. It can be renewed for one or more periods of five years each, up to a total term of 25 years.

An Austrian design application is filed with the Austrian Patent Office. It shall contain the following information:

	Name and full address of the applicant
	Representations of the design
	Indication of the products the design is intended for.

The representations should show the design and its individual features as clearly as possible, wherefore a number of different views is permissible.

The specification of goods has to be classified in accordance with the classes and subclasses of the Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs, which we will gladly take care of on your behalf. A single design may comprise any desired number of classes and subclasses of the International Classification for Industrial Designs.

In addition to the registration of single designs, several designs (maximum of 50 pieces) may be combined in one multiple application. This possibility is subject to the condition that the products the designs are intended for all belong to the same class of the International Classification. The advantage of multiple designs consists in the considerably lower costs as compared to single designs.

It is up to the applicant to decide whether the design is filed in open or secret manner. In the case of a secret filing, publication is deferred for a period of at most 18 months from the date of priority of the design.

It is also left to the applicant as to whether the designer is officially cited as such or not.

For becoming active on your behalf, we will need a power of attorney. For one and the same applicant a single general power of attorney will suffice for all future cases. The power and the reference to the power, respectively, can be late filed.

Every Austrian design application will be examined as to whether it meets the formal requirements (in particular correct classification and appropriate representation) as well as to whether the design is contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality.

Austrian design applications are not examined as to novelty and individual character. Such examination is reserved for later disputes.

Licences, liens and other rights in rem may be entered in the register on request, as are changes in the ownership of the design.

Find more information under point » Register Entries

As from publication (registration) of the design it confers on its holder the exclusive right to use it and to prevent any third party not having his consent from using it. Such "use" covers, in particular, the making, offering, putting on the market, importing, exporting or using of a product in which the design is incorporated, or stocking such a product for those purposes.

A party whose design rights have been infringed is entitled to claim cease and desist, removal, publication of the judgement, appropriate compensation, damages, surrender of profits, rendering of accounts and is also entitled to receive information on provenance and channel of distribution of the goods.

Actions for infringement lie solely with the Commercial Court Vienna and the Regional Criminal Court Vienna, respectively. Temporary injunctions are also provided for.

Within six months from filing an Austrian design application, foreign design applications may be filed with a claim of the Austrian priority. These can take the form of national design applications in the desired countries or a Community design application.

We can also file Community design applications in your name with the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) in Alicante. These will then be valid for the entirety of the European Union, thus, of course, also in Austria. Should you be interested in exports within the EU, you may consider to immediately apply for a design registration with OHIM instead of an Austrian design registration.

The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs makes it possible to file designs with the International Bureau of WIPO in Geneva, which will then enjoy protection in a number of selected Contracting States. However, applications may only be filed by citizens of the Contracting States and persons having their domiciles in such countries. Austria is not a Contracting Party of the Hague Agreement, yet international designs may, for instance, be filed in the name of a German or Swiss mother or daughter company of an Austrian enterprise. In this manner, it is possible to obtain design protection in Switzerland and in Liechtenstein and in further Non-EU countries, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.

Designs are also encompassed by the Anti-Counterfeiting Regulation (EC) No. 1383/2003. We, therefore, recommend an application for customs action, if you anticipate the importation of products that may infringe your design rights. Please also note the article » "Fight against Counterfeiting" on this website.

Please see here some examples of registered designs as we encounter them in our daily lives: