When you have acquired a right

Your design registration is valid for five years from the date when you file your application. You can renew it further for four five-year periods up to a maximum of 25 years. We will send you an alert that the registration can be renewed when it is approaching the expiry of a five-year period. 

A design registration will help displaying the values of your business, and can make it easier for you to attract cooperation partners for partnership and investments. 

With a documented right to a design, it is easier to sell your right, license it out or use it to enter into collaborative agreements. 

Many will hesitate to copy a product they know is protected by the Designs Act. There is no particular symbol showing that the product is a registered design, but you can for instance print the registration number on the product itself, or refer to it in advertisements, leaflets and on web pages. 

Unfortunately, we cannot give a straightforward answer to this question, because every case is unique. We must assess whether the overall impression of a design is similar to the overall impression of another design. 

Changes in small details will most often not be enough to give a different overall impression. 

In addition, it is important for the scope of the protection how much freedom the designer had in developing the design. Some features in a design may be necessary for the design to fulfil a technical function. It is not possible to have sole right to such features. 

If you discover that someone is selling a design that, in your opinion, is an infringement of your design registration, you should first assess thoroughly if you really think the other design gives the same overall impression as your design. 

If you consider it an infringement, you should contact the other party and explain your view. It’s a good idea to do this in writing which you can later document. You should attach a copy of your registration and request that the other party stops using the design. In many cases you will succeed in stopping the use when you can document your exclusive right to the design. 

If the other party does not agree with you or does not respect you right, you must take your case to court. Then you should contact a lawyer  who is specialized in intellectual property. A documented right in the form of a design registration shows the date when the design was filed at NIPO. This will be of great importance in a possible lawsuit.