Industrial Design FAQ's
What is an Industrial Design
An industrial design is the shape, pattern or ornamentation applied to a useful article that is massproduced. It may be the shape of a table, the ornamentation on the handle of a spoon, and it may be made by hand, tool or machine. The design has features intended for visual appeal. However, merits of those features are not part of the application.
People often confuse industrial designs with other forms of intellectual property. A copyright is legal protection for an artistic endeavour. Often an industrial design is first created as a work of art, and as such, is originally protected by the Copyright Act. An artistic work is protected under the Copyright Act automatically, but a design is protected under the Industrial Design Act only if it is registered. Therefore, it may be a good idea to register your design, even if your have copyright protection for the original art. If you are in doubt about the appropriate course, it may be wise to consult a lawyer or a registered patent agent.
Patents are for new inventions or processes that offer innovative and useful functions. Canadian law regards the functional aspects and design aspects of articles quite separately. Therefore, you cannot list a function as an element of an industrial design. You may, however, be able to obtain a patent for an article's functional aspects and an industrial design for its aesthetic ones. Suppose you develops a new kind of folding chair. The way the chair folds, its lightweight construction, its strength and its durability are all functional qualities. The industrial design features would include the shape and ornamentation of the chair, any patterns on it and its appearance (folded and unfolded).
Trademarks are used to distinguish the goods or services of one person or organization from those of another. A design feature of a product or its packaging can be an aspect that distinguises it from someone else's product. You can register such a feature as an industrial design and, in a separate process, as a trademark. Suppose, for example, you created a soft drink bottle with a unique shape. You could, register the shape with the Industrial Design Office and later as a distinguishing guise (a type of trademark) with the Trademarks Office. Keep in mind that for this bottle to be considered a trademark it MUST be put on the market and become associated with your product. Therefore, to ensure maximum protection your might wish to seek industrial design registration first.
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