The design of a product can be protected by an intellectual
property right through a registration before an intellectual
property office. In this article, it will be compared the design
systems of China and European Union.
In general terms, the scope of protection of a design
encompasses the appearance of the whole or a part of a product
resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours,
colors, shape, pattern, texture and/or materials of the product
itself and/or its ornamentation.
The advantage of having a registered design is the exclusive
right to exploit the design. This exclusive right includes, namely,
the making, offering, putting on the market, importing, exporting,
or using of a product in which the design is incorporated or to
which it is applied, or stocking such a product for those
purposes.
