What is a registered design?

How you get it

Registered. You apply to the IPI and the right arises on entry in the Design Register. Protection abroad runs through the Hague System.

How long it lasts

Five years from filing, renewable four times for five years each - 25 years in total.

The catch

The IPI checks formalities only, not novelty or individual character, so registration is no guarantee of validity. Switzerland has no unregistered design right at all.

Switzerland is not in the EU or the EEA: an EU trade mark or registered EU design does not cover Switzerland, and the unitary patent does not extend here.

Office: Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI)

How you get it

Registered. The DPMA registers a German design. Alongside it sit the registered EU design at EUIPO and international registration through the Hague Agreement.

How long it lasts

Five years from the filing date, renewable in five-year periods up to 25 years from filing.

The catch

The DPMA does not examine novelty or individual character before registering. They are tested only in a dispute, so a registration certificate is no assurance the design is valid.

Germany is in the EU, so the national route sits alongside the EU trade mark and registered EU design at EUIPO, and the European patent at the EPO.

Office: German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA)

How you get it

Registered. File at INPI for France, at EUIPO for a registered EU design covering the whole EU, or through the Hague System. Unregistered EU design protection also arises on first disclosure in the EU.

How long it lasts

Five years from the filing date, renewable in five-year periods up to 25 years.

The catch

Registration is without prejudice to other rights, so the same object is often protected by droit d'auteur as well. Buying the registration does not buy the designer's copyright or their perpetual moral rights.

France is in the EU, so the national route sits alongside the EU trade mark and registered EU design at EUIPO, and the European patent at the EPO.

Office: Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI)

How you get it

Registered by the JPO after substantive examination for novelty and creative difficulty. Japan may be designated in an international design application under the Hague Agreement.

How long it lasts

25 years from the filing date, for applications filed on or after 1 April 2020.

The catch

First to file applies and public disclosure destroys novelty. There is a one-year grace period, but it must be claimed and supported by a proving document.

Copyright is administered by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, not the JPO.

Office: Japan Patent Office (JPO)

How you get it

Registered. Apply to the UPRP for a national right, to EUIPO for a registered EU design covering Poland, or through the Hague System. An unregistered EU design gives three years against copying.

How long it lasts

Twenty-five years from the filing date, in five-year periods, each renewed by paying the fee on time.

The catch

A Polish registration is no guarantee of validity - anyone may oppose within six months of publication, and the right can still be invalidated later for lack of novelty or individual character.

Poland is in the EU but has not signed the Unified Patent Court Agreement, so a unitary patent has no effect in Poland.

Office: Patent Office of the Republic of Poland (UPRP)

How you get it

Registered. UANIPIO registers industrial designs after formal examination only - novelty and individual character are not examined. Ukraine is a Hague member, and a separate unregistered design right arises on first disclosure.

How long it lasts

Five years from filing, renewable in five-year periods to 25 years. The unregistered right lasts three years from disclosure.

The catch

Because there is no substantive examination, a certificate proves little and is exposed to opposition and court invalidation. Foreign applicants must act through a Ukrainian patent attorney.

The wartime suspension of IP time limits was cancelled with effect from 31 May 2025 and deadlines now run normally. Guidance published before then, saying deadlines are suspended, is out of date.

Office: Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovations (UANIPIO)

How you get it

Both routes exist. Registered designs are applied for at the UKIPO, or the UK designated through the Hague System. Separately, UK unregistered design right and supplementary unregistered design arise automatically.

How long it lasts

Registered designs last 5 years, renewable to 25. UK unregistered design right lasts the shorter of 15 years from creation or 10 from first marketing; supplementary unregistered design lasts 3 years.

The catch

Supplementary unregistered design arises only on first disclosure in the UK. Disclosing first in the EU does not create it, and can destroy novelty for a later UK claim - so where you first show a design matters.

EU rights have not covered the UK since 1 January 2021. The UK remains a party to the European Patent Convention, which is separate from the EU.

Office: UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO)

How you get it

The US has no separate registered or unregistered design right. Appearance is protected as a design patent, examined and granted by the USPTO, though trade dress and copyright may cover some designs in parallel.

How long it lasts

15 years from the date of grant, with no maintenance fees payable.

The catch

Design patents face the same statutory bars as utility patents, so you must file within a year of first publication, public use or offer for sale - and there is no unregistered design right to fall back on.

Copyright is handled by the US Copyright Office, not the USPTO. The US has no separate design right: appearance is protected by a design patent.

Office: United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)