Designs
Protecting the appearance of a product
A registered design or model constitutes an exclusive right over the appearance of a product or of a part thereof as resulting in particular from the features of the lines, contours, colors, shape, surface texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation.
To be validly protected, the model must be new (i.e., it must not be identical to another previously disclosed model) and must have individual character (i.e., it must produce on the “informed user” a different overall impression from that of prior models).
Where and how long
Models or designs can be protected either through a national filing in Italy, or through the filing of a European Union Design application, valid in all countries of the European Union, or through national design applications in each foreign country of interest, or through an international design application (valid however only in certain countries).
The duration of protection in Italy and in the European Union is five years, renewable every five years up to a maximum of 25 years. There is also protection deriving from an unregistered European Union Design design, which however lasts only three years from the first disclosure of the design within the EU, and is only enforceable against copies (i.e. reproductions of the design for which a non-autonomous creation can be proved).