An industrial design is the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an article. The design may consist of three-dimensional features, such as the shape or surface of an article, or of two-dimensional features, such as patterns, lines or color. Industrial designs are applied to a wide variety of products of industry and handicraft: from technical and [...]
The South African law makes provision for a six months grace period regarding design disclosure and the subsequent application filing. This means that if you made a design disclosure you must make sure that you file an application for design rights within six months of the design disclosure date if you want to retain the [...]
The design application process need not be complicated although the various terms and conditions may become confusing. The following steps are followed in the design application process: The design should be kept secret and not marketed or sold until the design application has been done. Contact the patent and design application attorneys of SVW for [...]
An enforceable right is only obtained once a design has been registered. A design is only registered by the South African Designs Office a few months after filing of the design application. You do not have an enforceable right until such time as you have received notification of registration of the design from the South [...]
How long does a Design Application take? It usually takes about eight months from the date of filing the application until notification of registration is received from the South African Designs Office. If foreign registered designs are to be applied for, we should be notified thereof at the outset, but foreign design applications may be [...]
Unlike a patent, for which absolute novelty is required, a design may be registered up to 6 months after the design has been disclosed or released to the public. However, if someone else starts to produce an article during the six month period, and the article would have infringed the design had it been registered, [...]
The first thing to do is to keep the design secret and do not market it or sell it until a South African registered design has been filed. Contact an attorney to discuss its protection. Should you wish to proceed with registration of a design, he or she will prepare the design application including drawings [...]
Where an article has both aesthetic and functional features, you should file for an aesthetic as well as a functional design for it. Although these are two separate design applications, you will usually be charged at a reduced rate for the second and each following design application filed simultaneously. Similarly, design applications can be filed [...]
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