Protecting a design with design registration

The shape of a product, the line of a packaging, the drawing of an interface: the aesthetic appearance can be worth as much as the function. In Switzerland you protect it by registering a design (the old “model”) with the IPI, the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property. It is the most underrated IP tool among SMEs, and yet often the fastest and cheapest to obtain.

What a registered design protects

The design protects the appearance of a product or of a part of it: lines, contours, colours, shape, surface, materials, ornaments. In practice it protects how a thing looks, not how it works.

It does not protect the technical function (that is a matter for patents) nor the name or logo (those are a matter for trademarks).
Features dictated exclusively by technical function are excluded from protection: if a shape is the only one possible to make the object work, it is not a registrable design.

The design therefore sits alongside the other rights: one and the same product may have a patent on the technology, a trademark on the name and a design on the shape.

The two requirements: novelty and originality

For a design to be validly registered, two conditions are needed:

Novelty: the design must not already have been made available to the public before filing.
Originality (individual character): it must be recognisably distinguishable from designs that already exist; a minimal, obvious variation is not enough.

There is an element of flexibility useful to founders: Swiss law provides for a grace period which, within the 12 months preceding filing, neutralises disclosure made by the author themselves. In other words, if you have already shown the product on the market, you have a window to rush and register it — but it is a safety net, not a strategy: better to file first.

The point to know: the IPI does not examine novelty and originality

As with the national patent, the IPI checks the formal aspects and certain exclusions, but does not check ex officio whether the design is really new and original. Consequences:

registration is fast and inexpensive;
the title, however, says little about its actual validity, which is measured only in case of a challenge;
a preliminary search of prior designs reduces the risk of registering something that can be attacked.

Duration: up to 25 years

Protection lasts 5 years from filing and is renewable every five years up to a maximum of 25 years. The renewal fee must be paid at each deadline: whoever forgets it loses protection. It is a long, low-cost horizon, suited to products with an extended life cycle.

Multiple filing and confidentiality

Two very useful practical aspects:

Multiple filing: in a single application you can register several designs belonging to the same class, cutting the cost per individual model. Ideal for a collection or a range of variants.
Deferment of publication: it is possible to request that publication of the design be postponed (as a rule up to 30 months), keeping it confidential until launch. Precious for fashion, product and industrial design, where the element of surprise counts.

Here too the golden rule of IP applies: in the phases with suppliers and partners, before registration, protection goes through confidentiality agreements.

Beyond Switzerland

The registered design is territorial: a Swiss one protects in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. For foreign markets you can file at national level, in the European Union, or use the international route of the Hague system, which allows protection to be extended to several countries with a single application. Anyone looking at export should plan the geographies early.

Frequent mistakes

Launching the product and thinking about the design only afterwards, relying on the grace period instead of filing first.
Confusing design, trademark and patent and believing that a single registration covers everything.
Not renewing at the 5-year deadline and losing protection that is still useful.
Registering the design in the name of the founder rather than the company.

An asset that weighs in the valuation

For a product SME or a design brand, a portfolio of registered designs owned by the company is a concrete value in a capital raise or an exit: it protects against imitations and increases the transferable assets. Registering a design costs little compared with what it protects.

How SIH ONE supports you

The Tax & Legal division supports SMEs in protecting a design — preliminary search, filing (including multiple) with the IPI, management of the deferment of publication and international extension — integrating it with trademark, patents and corporate structure. Before your next launch, let’s protect the appearance of your products.