Designs and Models
The designs or models are governed by articles 31 to 44 of the CPI
| TO FILE A DESIGN OR MODEL |
Designs or models means the appearance of the entire product or of a part of it, which results, in particular, from the characteristics of the lines, contours, colors, shape, surface structure and / or materials of the product itself and / or its ornament, provided they are new and have individual character.
Protection concerns the external appearance as a whole and unwritten. If there are writings, these are not protected. By product we mean any industrial or handicraft object, including, among other things, the components that must be assembled to form a complex product, packaging, presentations, graphic symbols and typographic characters, excluding computer programs. A complex product means a product consisting of several components that can be replaced, allowing disassembly and re-assembly of the product.
The protection period of the design or model lasts 5 years starting from the date of the presentation of the application and can be renewed, paying the maintenance maintenance fee, for 4 five-year periods, up to a maximum total of 25 years.
The protection is valid only in the country to which it is requested. In addition to submitting the application for protection in Italy, it is possible to request protection with validity throughout the EU with a request to EUIPO, or to request protection in many foreign countries by directly submitting an application to WIPO.
The application, with the attached documentation, is immediately made available to the public, unless the applicant has ruled out accessibility for a period that cannot exceed 30 months from the filing date or from the date of priority (inaccessibility ).
The application can be submitted for a single design or model or for more designs or models (MULTIPLE), provided that these belong to the same "class" of the Locarno Classification (for example the collections).