Industrial Design Patenting

Russian Federation Civil Code, Part Four, “Chapter 72. Patent Law” governs relations arising in connection with legal protection and use of inventions, utility models and industrial designs.

Here is a brief plan for industrial designs patenting:

Industrial design patents are granted for an artistic engineering embodiment of an article, produced commercially or handcrafted that forms its exterior, i.e. the design appearance of the article. Industrial designs may be three-dimensional or flat, e.g. a packaging, a tag, a logo or a type as well as composite products, separate parts that can be assembled into a composite article, etc.

When preparing patent application materials for an industrial design, one should draw attention that the image of the article exterior is the key document, as it contains all the information about the claimed industrial design. It also should be precise, clear and give the full detailed idea of the article exterior. Certain elements of the industrial design on the picture should be seen clearly not only at the illuminated but also at the shadowed sides. Additionally, the images should be presented as consistent with the title of the industrial design and its purpose. For instance, when a packaging is being patented one should provide the picture of the packaging – not a typographic scan.

Prior to filing an application to the Patent Office, it would be wise to conduct information search to assess the possibility and expediency of patenting your artistic engineering article as an industrial design.

An industrial design patent application shall contain a request for the patent grant, industrial design description, image of the article with a list of essential features.

Industrial design must comply with the patentability requirements, i.e. should be innovative and original. To verify whether an industrial design meets the aforesaid requirements, an examination is carried out at the Patent Office, revealing the similar artistic engineering solutions.
In the event of confirming the compliance of the claimed industrial design reflected in the images, with all the patentability requirements, a decision to grant a patent. Otherwise it is a decision to refuse granting a patent, which may be appealed against in the Chamber for Patent Disputes in the prescribed order.