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Design Rights

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Protect your product appearance

The design of a product often provides added value to a product while serving as a means of sales promotion. Protection of appearance can therefore be important in cases in which the need to protect a design has not even been considered. Protecting a product’s appearance is especially important when approaching sophisticated design products. The need for protection will also increase when there appears to be a risk that the product will be subject to imitations.

Protection coverage

Design protection is suitable for almost all kinds of products, because both decorative and utility designs can be protected with a design registration. The protection can be targeted to the entire appearance of the product or to a particular part of it. The right to a design can be protected nationally (in Finland and/or abroad) or supra-nationally with a Community Design, which covers the entire European Union. The choice of the extent of protection is determined, for example, by the holder’s area of operation. More information on design rights can be found under the FAQ page "Design Right".

Our services to desing rights

Our experience and global cooperation network are at your disposal in all design right matters. Our expert staff helps you in all phases of design right protection.

We follow the progress of the application process, communicate with the Patent Office and remind you of deadlines/terms. We also attend to oppositions, renewals of registrations, monitoring and matters concerning agreements, licenses and counterfeit goods.

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Additional information:

Design Right:

Protection for the appearance or a part of the appearance of a tangible product.

Can be registered only when the design has individual character and is new, with the exception of the 12-month grace period following publication.

A periodic exclusive right, renewable every 5 years, with a maximum protection period of 25 years.

Protection covers all products whose overall impression is similar (e.g. a shoe and a shoe-shaped candle).

Finnish Patent Office