What Cannot Be Protected by Industrial Design Rights?

Industrial design rights, or industrial design protection, are a form of intellectual property that protect the visual design of objects that are not solely utilitarian. This type of protection applies to all industries, from consumer products to high tech electronics and medical supplies. It is an important form of protection for creators and innovators who have invested in the development of a product’s appearance.

Industrial design rights can protect the overall shape of a product, its surface ornamentation or decoration, any three-dimensional features or two-dimensional features such as lines, contours, colors, texture or materials of an object’s surface. The protection is limited to the visual features only and does not extend to other aspects such as the function of the product or its technical features. This means that industrial design rights will not protect an invention itself but only its appearance.

For example, if an inventor creates a new type of car with a unique shape and color scheme, industrial design rights can be used to protect this external design from being copied by competitors. However, industrial design rights will not prevent others from creating their own cars with similar technical features and functions. Similarly, if an inventor designs a new type of bicycle with unusual handlebars and frame shape, industrial design rights will protect these aesthetic elements but not the actual functioning mechanics like gears and brakes.

Additionally, industrial design rights cannot be used to protect designs that are purely utilitarian in nature without any aesthetic features. For instance, if an inventor designs a chair that is specifically intended for medical use with no decorative elements, then this chair cannot be protected by industrial design rights since it serves a purely functional purpose.

Conclusion: Industrial Design Rights can be used to protect the overall shape of a product as well as its surface ornamentation or decoration but cannot be used to protect inventions themselves or designs that are purely utilitarian in nature without any aesthetic features.