Industrial Design Rights

This book is a revised and updated edition of a major work first published in 2001 under the auspices of the Intellectual Property Committee of the International Bar Association. As a comparative cross-jurisdictional analysis of the practice, theory, scope, and types of design protection, it will continue to be of immeasurable value to lawyers and others involved in industrial design.

Industrial designs are particularly interesting because the laws in many countries attempt in different ways to find a balance between protection for the artistic and freedom to use the purely functional, and between the proprietary rights of the creator and the public domain rights of the competitor.

The second edition is comprised of more than twenty country reports, each written by one or more prominent intellectual property lawyer(s) in the country covered. To facilitate cross-jurisdictional comparison, each report is structured according to the following sequence of topics:

- new developments in each jurisdiction;

- conventions and legislation;

- definition of what constitutes a protectable design;

- originality /novelty;

- duration of protection;

- infringement;

- defences to infringement;

- procedures for filing application for registration; and

- expunging, cancelling, or varying registration.

Prominent new developments covered in the second edition include the continuing impact of the European Community Design Directive, the adoption of the Hague Convention with corresponding major changes to US and Canadian design law and practice, the new German Design Law, and China's new Guidelines for examination. Each jurisdiction's currently applicable legislation, regulation, and case law is summarized and analysed.