A new era in design protection

摘要

Design law protects the appearance of a product. The Designs Act 2003 (the New Act) commenced on 17 June 2004 and replaced the Designs Act 1906 (the Old Act). The New Act protects products having a new and distinctive appearance. This protection is broader than that provided by the Old Act. It is also more difficult to obtain and more difficult for competitors to avoid. The New Act therefore provides a useful lower level alternative to patent protection which protects the "concept or idea" of an invention (patent protection is not limited to a specific embodiment or appearance). This article outlines some of the key changes introduced by the New Act. For a design to be registrable under the New Act it must be both new and distinctive compared with designs publicly used in Australia, or published in a document anywhere in the world. Under the Old Act overseas documentary publications were not considered. This "prior art base' covers use and publication having occurred before the design application's filing date, or the filing date of a corresponding foreign application ("priority date").