An industrial design protects the aesthetic or ornamental appearance of an article applied by any industrial process or means, and the design must appeal to the eyes. It may be of a three-dimensional feature (e.g. shape or configuration of an article), or a two-dimensional feature (e.g. pattern or ornamentation applied to an article). If your products or services are associated with unique patterns or motives, creative exterior look, aesthetic shapes of specially designed lines, you may protect them under an industrial design application.
An industrial design must be new in order to be registrable. The industrial design is granted for its external look, hence a granted design does not cover its technical or functional features, if any. Once granted, an industrial design will be given an initial protection period of 5 years from the date of filing, and can be renewed for 4 consecutive terms of 5 years each.
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