The advantages deriving from the legal protection of design

The expansion of markets and, therefore, globalization and internationalization, the low cost of labour in some countries, the increasingly demanding customers, the value of investments made by large companies have led to an increasingly complex organization of the company and increasingly competitive. In order to maintain, strengthen and expand their space in the reference market, companies must invest in sectors that increase their competitiveness. These are the knowledge, innovation and research that allow them, therefore, to conquer ever-greater operating spaces.

Innovation and creativity find their protection through the protection of intellectual property, namely patent, trademark, design, copyright, secret information, know-how. Intellectual property assets deserve to be protected not only because they are corporate assets but, also, because they can be exploited economically, therefore monetized, becoming additional sources of income, for example through sales, licensing, co-branding, merchandising, franchising, or through financing instruments, such as the IP loan, the IP sale and leaseback. The market today is increasingly crowded with similar and similarly useful items, the proliferation of which originated from the attempt of companies, in response to customer requests, to divide the market into ever smaller and more specific segments. Entrepreneurs, therefore, to compete with other companies are forced to diversify their product from that of other entrepreneurs and, consequently, it becomes essential for them to create a product that combines in itself a perfect fit between the aesthetic and technical factors. functional: enhancing the design.

In particular, the design contributes to the characterization and accreditation of the corporate image which in turn is a central tool for positioning a particular brand on the market. In other words, protecting design does not only mean protecting the aesthetics of a product but also means giving substance to specific company strategies. In particular, the design contributes to the characterization and accreditation of the corporate image which in turn is a central tool for positioning a particular brand on the market. In other words, protecting design does not only mean protecting the aesthetics of a product but also means giving substance to specific company strategies. In the legal field, the design is relevant both for the distinctive value it gives to the product, therefore for its commercial value, and as the result of the designer’s creative effort. For this reason, it is subject to two disciplines: the one provided for by the Industrial Property Code (Legislative Decree 10 February 2005 n. 30) and that provided for by the Copyright Law (Law 22 April 1941 n. 633). The two regulations require the existence of different requirements.

Registration, pursuant to the Industrial Property Code, as models/drawings presupposes that the design product has the requirements of novelty and individual character at the same time (i.e., that the general impression it arouses in the informed user differs significantly from the general impression created in such user by any design or model that has been disclosed to the public). Protection through the Copyright Law, on the other hand, requires that the design product have a creative character and have an artistic value. The market today is increasingly crowded with similar and similarly useful items whose proliferation originates from the attempt of companies, in response to customer requests, to divide the market into ever smaller and more specific segments. Entrepreneurs, therefore, in order to compete with other companies are forced to diversify their product from that of other entrepreneurs and, consequently, it becomes essential for them to create a product that combines in itself a perfect fit between the aesthetic and technical factors. functional: enhancing the design.

In conclusion, the company, through design, seeks to identify and seduce the target audience of the sector in order to have a return in terms of acquired through the message it conveys. Design, therefore, is a customer collector tool and its protection through the tools of Intellectual Property gives it an exclusivity that makes the consumer gratified for its own aesthetic value by referring to symbolic values or the suggestion of a style. of life.

Edit by Lawyer Gilda Gagliano

Studio legal Gagliano Legal