Design Law

De·sign noun [the]

A design represents the appearance of a product or a part thereof, resulting in particular from the characteristics of its lines, contours, colours, shape, surface texture and/or the materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation. A design is an intellecutal property right that grants its owner an exclusive right for the design filed with the respective authority. This exclusive right includes the right to use the design for the specifically designated goods. Since the design, in contrast to a patent or trademark , is an aesthetic property right, only the external appearance of a design can be protected. The prerequisite is that the design is new and differs significantly from existing designs.

What scenarios do we encounter in Design Law?

Your designs as well as their protection play an important role in the competitiveness of your company and are crucial for sustainable business success. You would like to protect the design you have created in Switzerland or clarify whether your design can also be protected abroad. If you notice that someone is using one of your designs without authorization, you would like to clarify whether you can take legal action against this.

How can freigutpartners support you in protecting your design?

As your reliable partner for Design law in Switzerland and abroad, we first check whether your design is protectable at all, because for this it must be new and have the so-called individual character, i.e. differ from existing designs. If this is the case, we advise you on the best possible approach to protect your design, i.e. we register the design for you in Switzerland and abroad and enforce your exclusive right against infringers in the event of a dispute, also before civil and criminal courts.

Furthermore, in cases of collision with other designs that can be confused, we show you which protection or defense options you have and accompany you step by step in their implementation.