We often hear businesses ask “Should we protect this product with a patent or a design registration?” However, they can have both.
Patents and Designs: What’s the Difference?
A patent protects how a product works. A registered design protects how it looks. Most successful products derive value from a combination of technical innovation and thoughtful visual design, yet many businesses seek protection for only one of those elements.
Consider a new product. The functional aspects may be patentable, while the appearance may be distinctive enough for design protection.
The Advantage of Designs
In some markets, copying is becoming increasingly direct, augmenting the enforcement prospects of a design.
Design registrations also offer important practical advantages. Compared with obtaining and maintaining patent protection, obtaining a design application and having it certified is generally a relatively inexpensive way of securing enforceable intellectual property rights. For many businesses, adding design protection to a patent strategy can provide a significant boost in overall protection for a relatively modest additional investment.
Using Patents and Designs Together Strategically
1. While Finalising Patents
Importantly, a registered design can complement the strategic value of a pending patent application. During patent pendency, claim scope can be refined as prior art is considered, commercial priorities become clearer, and competitor activity emerges. Where appropriate, divisional applications may also allow different aspects of an invention to be pursued through separate patent rights.
A pending patent application is therefore often more than a pathway to a granted patent. It can be a platform from which a broader and more sophisticated patent strategy evolves.
At the same time, a certified registered design may provide an enforceable right over the product’s appearance while that patent strategy develops. Where copying occurs early in a product’s life cycle, the certified design registration may provide valuable protection at a time when patent rights are still being shaped.
2. While Both Registered
There is also value in overlap. Relying on a single form of intellectual property protection creates risk. If one right is challenged, circumvented or proves difficult to enforce in a particular situation, another right may still provide a valuable avenue for protection. A layered IP strategy can therefore improve resilience as well as protection.
From a competitor’s perspective, avoiding one IP right may be manageable. Avoiding multiple forms of protection simultaneously is considerably more difficult. Being forced to design around a patent and a design can significantly increase development costs, time to market and commercial risk.
See also: An example of combining designs and patents in this Client Spotlight – Dnoodle: A New Twist on Spillproof Technology
Key Takeaways
The strongest IP strategies are rarely built around a single right. Patents and designs are often complementary, helping protect both the investment in innovation and the market appeal of a product.
If you’re looking to strengthen your intellectual property strategy, contact MBIP. Our highly skilled professionals are experienced in creating practical solutions to ensure the strongest possible protection for your inventions.
