Industrial Designs

1. What is an Industrial Design?

(c) Visibility and Fixed Appearance

An industrial design must have features that are intended to have a visual impact or appeal, but the artistic or aesthetic merit of a particular design will not be assessed. In other words, while the ornamentation of a useful article must visually distinguish the appearance of the article from prior designs for the same article, it need not necessarily beautify the article. Keeping in mind that an industrial design is defined in terms of features that appeal to and are judged solely by the eye, this criteria will place limitations upon the types of designs which may be protected. First of all, in order to appeal to or be judged by the eye, the subject item must be visible to the eye. Accordingly, if your design is for the shape of some component part which is incorporated into a larger device and, when in use, is hidden from view by a cover or casing, then this feature is not visible and cannot be protected as an industrial design. A second criteria which is derived from the visual nature of an industrial design, is that in order for a design to be protectable it must have a fixed appearance. Thus, for example, the changing shapes of a beanbag chair could not be protected.