Why should I apply for design protection?
Design registrations are potentially valuable assets. If you have come up with a new design that has features that your competitors may want to copy, you should consider applying for design protection. Without design protection, your competitors are free to copy and benefit from your design, even though they did not incur the costs of creating or developing that design.
Design protection can be useful when patent protection for the article may be difficult to obtain. For example, a new water jug is unlikely to receive patent protection if its functional characteristics (such as the container, handle, spout, etc.) are not new. However, if the visual appearance of the water jug is new and differs from the appearance of prior water jugs, then the new appearance may be protected by an industrial design registration.
Design protection can also be useful for products where sales are driven by aesthetic considerations, such as consumer electronics, sports equipment, and vehicles.
In addition to preventing your competitors from copying your design, design protection can also provide you the option of selling or licensing the design rights to interested parties. This may allow you to benefit financially from the design even in countries or markets where you are not going to manufacture or sell the product yourself.
If you are seeking investment from other people to fund the development of your products, you will likely find that potential investors are very concerned about your intellectual property strategy. This is because having a strong intellectual property strategy can be key to recovering investment in and profiting from the development of a product. Design registrations can be an important part of your intellectual property strategy and may increase the chance that your investors will obtain a good return on their investment.