On March 23, the fourth consultation session on intellectual property for exporters is held
A representative of a Belarusian furniture manufacturer and exporter was interested in the possibility of patenting furniture designs.
The question, taking into account the financial possibilities of the Belarusian factory, came down to optimizing the protection of its developments from a financial point of view.
The answer was based on the norms of legislation and law enforcement practice in the field of patenting industrial designs.
According to the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Patents for Inventions, Utility Models, and Industrial Designs”, an industrial design to which legal protection is granted, is an artistic or artistic and engineering solution of a product, which determines its appearance and is novel and original. In this instance the product is understood as an article of industrial or handicraft production.
Patenting an industrial design for the protection of design rights, in contrast to inventions and utility models, in which a technical or constructional solution is protected, is resolved through the protection of the original appearance of furniture due to its aesthetic and decorative properties.
An industrial design patent can protect the design of industrial or handicraft furniture, either as a set or as a single item.
One industrial design is understood as artistic and engineering solution of a single item (for example, a wardrobe, a cabinet, a chest of drawers, a couch, an armchair, a bed, a furniture wall), its part (for example, furniture fittings, legs), and a set of items which are independent in the process of operation and have a common purpose (for example, a set of furniture for a hallway, a set of furniture for a children's room, etc.).
Images must provide a complete detailed picture of the product's appearance. These may be photographs, drawings, or images made using computer graphics. A set of images should contain several views of a single product, including a general three-quarter front view of the product, as well as other views such as a front view, a back view, a side view, a top view, etc.
As regards a furniture set, it must be displayed in the general view images in its entirety, i.e. with all the items included in it. In addition, each item included in the set may additionally be displayed in separate sets of images.
Items that can be transformed, closed, folded (chests of drawers, cabinets, wardrobes, couches) must be displayed in the images both in an assembled and open (transformed) form.
The option of patenting a set of furniture is available to the manufacturer to reduce costs. However, this is not the most reliable form of design protection. If the details of the individual elements are not reflected in the patent, it will be more complicated to prove infringement than if separate patents are obtained for the individual items of the furniture set and for the set as a whole.
