Industrial Designs

Designs relate to the way a product looks … its appearance and visual appeal.   Designs can be registered as functional designs or as aesthetic designs.

List of Services

• Registration of designs in South Africa.Design validity studies.
• Design infringement opinions
• Freedom-to-operate studies.
• Enforcement of designs in South Africa.
• Litigation involving designs.
• Searches at the Designs Office in South Africa.
• Payment of renewal fees for designs.

Designs in South Africa

Registered Designs are the South African equivalent of Design Patents in the United States. A Registered Design protects the appearance of an article. (By contrast, patents protect the technical features of an invention.)

Registered Designs are a relatively narrower form of intellectual property protection relating only to aspects of appearance, but are generally less expensive than patents.

South African designs can be filed in two so-called “Parts” of the Designs Register. Part F is for FUNCTIONAL designs and provides a term of protection of 10 years. Part A is for AESTHETIC designs and provides a term of 15 years. Applicants can (and often do) file the same design in both Parts of the Register.

We require drawings or photographs of your design taken from several different views. We require 7 copies of each view. If you provide us with an electronic copy of the design (.jpg, .png, .tiff, etc.) we can make up the necessary copies of each view.