Industrial Design

Industrial Design and Industrial Design Registration

Industrial designs are the visual features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament, or any combination of these features, as applied to a finished article. To be eligible for registration, your design must be original.

Our Canadian industrial design lawyers have over a decade of experience in design law and expertise in protecting designs around the world. We provide comprehensive industrial design services in Canada as well as direct filing and prosecution services for Canadian applicants for design patent applications in the United States.

We can also arrange for corresponding application filings to be made for you in other foreign jurisdictions through our network of foreign associates. When you apply for a design registration or design patent with us as your agent, we counsel you at every step of the application process in order to help you with filing and prosecution decisions and budgeting of the associated costs.

We also file Canadian industrial design applications for foreign clients and associates as their Canadian agent. The information and documents that a foreign client or associate needs to provide us with for a Canadian industrial design application includes:

• drawings or photographs depicting the design in a form suitable for filing in Canada;
• the name of the applicant and its complete address;
• the title identifying the article;
• the description of the design; and
• the country, application serial number and filing date for any priority claims.

Often this information may be found in a corresponding design application, registration, or patent for the same design filed abroad, in which case we may simply be provided with a copy of the foreign design application, registration or patent.

Further information about our industrial design services is found below. If you have any questions about our services or you are in need of industrial design or design patent services not specifically described here, please contact us now for a complimentary and confidential initial telephone appointment with a member of our team.

Industrial Design Search and Clearance Opinion

Since obtaining a design registration does not preclude a product from infringing registrations owned by third parties, we provide industrial design searches and freedom to operate opinions in Canada to help clients determine the risk of infringement from making, importing, and selling their new product in the Canadian market.

Industrial Design Infringement and Validity Opinions / Cease and Desist Letters

We also provide opinions on infringement and validity issues, as well as prepare and respond to cease and desist letters containing allegations of infringement. For more information about our intellectual property litigation services, please see our IP Litigation page.