Registered Design

Obtaining grant of registered design can be a time-consuming and sometimes expensive process, but litigation can be even more costly. Mistakes must be avoided at all costs then, and Adams & Adams has more collective experience than any other law firm in Africa – particularly in dealing with applications and the defence of registered designs across the globe.

The Patent team of Adams & Adams can guide you the maze of design application facts and potential challenges or objections:

• Determining the registribility of designs
• Drafting and filing of design and patent applications
• Restoration of design registrations
• Revocation of design registrations
• Voluntary surrender of design registrations
• Amendments to design registrations

Intellectual property, although intangible, is a valuable asset on the balance sheet of any business, and designs are an important intellectual property element. It makes sense, then, to register the shape and nature of your design, your hard work and skill, in order to protect it from unprincipled individuals or organisations who would think nothing of ‘riding your coat tails’ to a fast buck. There are a few ways to commercialise a registered design, depending on the owner’s business model.

Our Designs & Patents Commercialisation team is ready to assist you with the following matters (among others):

• Sales agreements for designs
• Licensing and royalty agreements
• Registered design assignment and transfer

Design registration affords protection specifically directed at the visual features of an article, that is, the shape and appearance of an industrial article. This can be relied upon to prevent others from making, importing, using or disposing of articles within the same class and embodying the registered design or a design not substantially different from it.

Besides handling the filing of your design registration, Adams & Adams is able to handle prosecution of design applications, and the enforcement of design rights in South Africa, Africa and the world as follows:

• Infringement investigations and advice
• Litigation proceedings