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Benefits of protecting designs

 

Why protect industrial designs?

 

An industrial design adds value to a product, making it more attractive and eye-catching to customers and can even become the main reason for buying the product. Protecting valuable designs is therefore usually a fundamental part of any designer or manufacturer's commercial strategy.

 

When protecting an industrial design by registering it at a national or regional industrial property (IP) office, the holder obtains the exclusive right to prevent its unauthorised reproduction or imitation by any third party. This practice is business logic, as it improves a company's competitiveness and tends to create additional revenue in one or several of the ways described below.

 

  • When a design is registered, the right to prevent its reproduction or imitation by the competition is acquired, strengthening the company's competitive position.

 

  • Registering a valuable design contributes to better returns from the capital invested in creating and marketing the product, leading to higher profits.

 

  • Industrial designs are business assets that can increase the commercial value of a company and its products. The more successful a design is, the greater its commercial value to the company.

 

  • A protected design can also be assigned (or sold) to others by granting a license and receiving an agreed payment, which serves as a way of accessing markets that might otherwise be inaccessible.

 

  • Registering industrial designs encourages loyal competition and honest commercial practice, which in turn promote the production of a wide variety of products that are attractive because of their design.

 

Reasons to protect industrial designs:

 

  • To prevent them being copied

 

  • Company policy

 

  • To get ahead of the competition

 

  • A question of prestige

 

  • To avoid others thinking they are being copied