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What is an Industrial Design?
An Industrial Design is the ornamental aspect of a useful article. This ornamental aspect may be constituted by elements, which are three-dimensional (the shape of the article) or two-dimensional (lines, designs, patterns and colours) but must not be dictated solely or essentially by technical or functional considerations. It is the right to protect the ornamental, non-functional features of an Industrial Article or Product that arise from Design Activity.
To be eligible for Industrial Design Protection in this country, Industrial Designs must be Original or Novel and must be Registered at the Intellectual Property Office, Third Floor, Capital Plaza, 11-13 Frederick Street, Port of Spain.
What kind of rights does Industrial Design involve?
Protection of an industrial design means that third parties not having the consent of the owner of the protected Industrial Design are not permitted to produce copies, or what is substantially a copy, of the protected design, when such acts are undertaken for commercial purposes.
An Industrial Design is registrable if it is new. The rights to registration of an Industrial Design belong to the Creator.
For example: The shapes of many ergonomically designed pieces of furniture, tools, tool handles, boat hulls and sunglasses are just a smattering of the many shapes around us that are protected by Industrial Design