The look of your product, owned outright.
Let's talkDesigns
Design protection is the most under-used right in most portfolios, and often the most practical. A registered design protects the look of your product: its shape, lines, pattern and ornamentation.
Design protection is the most under-used right in most portfolios, and often the most practical. Registration is fast and inexpensive compared with a patent, and against a copycat product it is frequently the easier right to enforce. We start with a novelty and priority analysis, then advise on the representations themselves: the drawings or photographs you file determine the scope you get.
From there we handle filing and prosecution in Switzerland, the European Union and, through the Hague System and our correspondent network, internationally, so a product launched in one market is covered in the ones it is heading for.
We keep the portfolio current with renewals and deadline tracking, structure the assignments, licences and franchise agreements that turn a design into revenue, and act when someone copies it.
Designs at a glance- 25 yearsMaximum term, in renewable five-year periods
- 2 testsThe design must be new and original
- CHF 200IPI filing fee for a single design
- 1 filingMultiple designs can be combined in one application
Novelty and priority check
What is already public, what you have already shown, and whether a priority claim from an earlier filing is available to you.
Representations
Choosing the views and the level of detail that give the broadest defensible scope for the product you actually sell.
Filing
Switzerland, the EU, or a Hague application covering a basket of countries, sometimes several designs in a single application.
Registration and publication
Including deferment of publication where you need to keep the design confidential until launch.
Enforcement
Action against copycat products, customs recordals, invalidity proceedings and negotiated settlements.
Show the product publicly and you may lose the right to register it. Trade fairs, social posts, crowdfunding pages and press previews all count as making the design available to the public. If a launch has already happened, tell us the date: some routes still remain, but they are time-limited.
- Novelty and priority analysis
- Advice on drawings and representations
- Filing and prosecution of applications
- Registration in Switzerland, the EU and via the Hague System
- Appeals and invalidity proceedings
- Renewals, deadline tracking and portfolio management
- Assignment, licence and franchise agreements
- Enforcement against copycat products
- Customs recordals and anti-counterfeiting
- Unfair competition and dispute resolution
- Mediation and negotiated settlements
Designs - the questions we are asked most
What do design rights cover?
The appearance of a product: its shape, lines, surfaces and colours. In Switzerland a design must be new and original, and protection runs in five-year periods up to a maximum of twenty-five years.
What is the difference between a design and a patent?
A patent protects how something works; a design protects how it looks. They are not alternatives so much as different layers: a single product can carry a patent on its mechanism, a registered design on its form and a trademark on its name, and for a product with a long shelf life all three are often worth having.
I have already shown the product. Is it too late?
Possibly, but not necessarily: it depends on where and when. Some jurisdictions allow a grace period after the designer's own disclosure, others do not, and the periods are short. If a launch, trade fair or crowdfunding campaign has already happened, give us the dates first: the answer is time-critical.
How do I protect a design outside Switzerland?
Through the Hague System, which covers a selected group of countries in one application, or by filing directly: for the EU, a single registered EU design (the former registered Community design) covers all 27 member states. The right mix depends on your markets and on how long you expect the product to stay in the range.
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DO Innovations S.A. Chemin de Bon-Abri 26a1007 Lausanne
Switzerland +41 79 199 80 73
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