It is a common belief that patents and designs share a similar
legal basis, particularly as some jurisdictions, such as the United
States, label an industrial design right as a "design
patent". However, in Australia, design rights and patent
rights are different in legal nature by virtue of separate
legislations.
We highlight, in Figure 1 below, several key differences between
Australian design rights and standard patent rights. Whilst there
are clear differences, both legal rights may often be complementary
in providing well-rounded protection for a unique commercial
product.
Figure 1: Summary of several key differences between
Australian design rights and standard patent rights.
