Policy information
Industrial designs
From Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Published on
Last updated on
An industrial design can be defined as the outward appearance of a product or part of it, resulting from the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture, materials and/or its ornamentation.
Designs may be protected if they are unique, meaning no identical design has been previously made available to the public. They must have individual character, that is to say the relevant consumer would find it different from other existing designs. A design cannot protect the function of a product. The design or shape of a product can be synonymous with the branding and image of a company and can become an asset with increasing monetary value.
An effective system of industrial design protection benefits consumers and the public at large, by promoting fair competition and honest trade practices. This encourages creativity, and promotes more aesthetically attractive products. Protecting industrial designs helps economic development, by encouraging creativity in the industrial and manufacturing sectors, as well as in traditional arts and crafts. It can also contribute to the expansion of commercial activities and the export of national products.
Industrial designs are applied to a wide variety of products, from technical and medical instruments to household products, electrical goods, clothing, motor vehicles and jewellery.
In order to apply for design registration, the applicant must be the proprietor, that is, the owner of the design. The proprietor can be the author of the design or the employer of the person who created the design if this was done in the course of the employment.
Examples of registered designs showing packaging, sets of products, composite products and web design:
Examples of registered designs
In Ireland, the Industrial Designs Act 2001 is the primary legislation dealing with industrial designs in Ireland. An application to register an industrial design is made to the Controller of Intellectual Property in the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland.
In the European Union, under Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 as implemented by Commission Regulation(EC) No 2245/2002, two methods of design protection applicable throughout the EU are available: namely, the Registered Community Design which confers protection through a registration process and, the unregistered Community design right which, as the name suggests, is not subject to a registration system. In Ireland, SI No 27/2003 European Communities (Community Design) Regulations 2003, gives effect to Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002.
The Community design is a unitary right that has equal effect across the European Union. The Community design registration process is administered by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) based in Alicante in Spain. The unregistered design right has existed since 6 March 2002 while the registered design form came into effect on 1 April 2003. In relation to terms of protection, an unregistered Community design lasts for a period of 3 years from the date on which the design was first made available to the public within the Community. A registered Community design lasts for up to 25 years from the date on which an application for registration was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. In terms of effect, the unregistered Community design provides useful, short-term protection for items of short market duration. The registered Community design provides substantial cost savings compared to obtaining national registrations in individual European countries.
Design protection is obtainable also on an international basis through the Hague Agreement administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) which offers a simple and cost-effective system for obtaining registered design protection in multiple participating countries. The Hague Agreement provides a mechanism for registering an industrial design in several countries by means of a single application, filed in one language, with one set of fees. The EU acceded to the Hague Agreement in September 2007. This accession allows EU companies and designers, including those from Ireland, to obtain protection for a design not only throughout the EU with the Community Design, but also in the countries which are members of the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement.
cc World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
Design rights are increasingly recognised as key to bringing ideas to the market and transforming them into user-friendly and appealing products or services. Well-designed products create an important competitive advantage for producers and companies that invest in design tend to be more profitable and grow faster. To encourage producers to invest in designs, there needs to be accessible, modern, and effective legal framework for the protection for design rights.
The current industrial design protection system in the EU is more than twenty years old. The laws of the member states relating to industrial designs were partially aligned by Directive 98/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998. Alongside the national design protection systems, Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 established a stand-alone system for protecting unitary rights that have equal effect throughout the EU in the form of the Registered Community Design (RCD) and the unregistered Community design.
The European Commission carried out an evaluation of the directive and regulation, which was published in November 2020.The evaluation concluded that the design protection in the EU was still largely fit for purpose, however, the evaluation revealed some shortcomings that needed to be addressed to make the legal framework fit to support the digital and green transition of EU industry, and to become substantially more accessible and efficient for industries, SMEs and individual designers. These shortcomings included a lack of clarity and robustness of certain key elements of design protection, outdated or overly complicated procedures, inappropriate fee levels and fee structure, lack of coherence of the procedural rules and an incomplete single market for spare parts.
Based on the findings of the evaluation, the Commission conducted an impact assessment which identified possible policy options to address the problems identified with the legislation. On 28 November 2022, the Commission published a reform package on industrial design protection, consisting of:
The main objectives of the package include:
products (such as cars) with an EU-wide 'repair clause'
On 25 September 2023, the Council adopted its position (‘general approaches’) on a recast directive on the legal protection of designs and an amended EU regulation on Community designs following months of negotiations with EU member states. The new Council texts introduce several improvements to the Commission proposal, including:
The Council’s General Approach provides a mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament and for the EU Trilogue process that commenced on 15 November 2023.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment sought the views of stakeholders and interested parties on a proposal for a reform package on industrial designs, consisting of a Directive (recast) of the European Parliament and of the Council to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to industrial designs, and a Regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community Designs.
The closing date was 24 February 2023.
Delivering on the actions contained in the European Commission’s Intellectual Property Action Plan , the Commission launched a public consultation on the revision of EU legislation on industrial design protection.
The public consultation relates to industrial designs protection, that is, the rights which protect the appearance of a product resulting from its attributes such as shape, colours or materials. The public consultation sought to obtain views of all those affected by design protection in Europe on selected issues, such as whether rules on spare parts protection should be changed, as well as potential policy options in view of the review of the Community Design Regulation (6/2002) and the Directive on the legal protection of designs (98/71/EC) . The review of the rules follows an exhaustive evaluation of the EU legislation on design protection, which was supported by a comprehensive public consultation and two major economic and legal studies. The evaluation indicated that the rules are working well, however, there were certain shortcomings that need to be addressed to modernise the legal framework and make it fit for the digital age.
The Commission invited the views of all interested stakeholders affected by design protection in Europe on potential options for reform of industrial designs protection. While the consultation is directed at a broader public, the reply to certain questions will require legal expertise and experience in the relevant field.
The closing date was 22 July 2021.
An unofficial consolidated copy of the principal industrial designs legislation Industrial Designs Act 2001 and supporting Industrial Designs Regulations 2002 which identifies each amendment by separate colour. For reference purposes only.
Primary legislation:
Statutory Instruments on industrial designs legislation consists of statutory instruments (SI) that fall into one of the following categories:
SIs relating to Rules, Fees and Commencement Orders made under the primary legislation are available to view under the Principal Act on the Irish Statute Book: Industrial Designs Act 2001
The Locarno Agreement establishes a classification for industrial designs (the Locarno Classification ). The competent offices of the Contracting States must indicate in official documents reflecting the deposit or registration of industrial designs the numbers of the classes and subclasses of the classification to which the goods incorporating the designs belong. This must also be done in any publication the offices issue in respect of the deposit or registration of industrial designs.
The Paris Convention, adopted in 1883, applies to industrial property in the widest sense, including patents , trademarks , industrial designs, utility models, service marks, trade names, geographical indications and the repression of unfair competition. This international agreement was the first major step taken to help creators ensure that their intellectual works were protected in other countries.