Acumen Intellectual Property

Designs relate to the visual appearance of an article, not how the article works. The article itself need not be new, only the design. To be validly registered a design must be new and distinctive. Thus, for example, a new telephone design is registrable. The maximum life of a design registration is 10 years from the filing date.

A single design application may be made for multiple designs. However the fee structure of the Designs Act does not encourage the filing of multiple designs in a single application and in most circumstances separate applications are appropriate. Conceptually a design is distinct form the article to which it is applied. A single design may be applied to multiple articles and a design may be protected in a single registration in respect of multiple articles.