FAQ's: Designs / Models

1. What is an industrial design?
An industrial design is the outword visible appearance of a whole or part of a product resulting from the specific features thereof, such as lines, shape, color etc  

2. How can industrial designs be protected in Greece?
Industrial designs can be protected upon registration with the Industrial Property Organisation (OBI); for such a registration an application must be filed with OBI.  

3. When can an industrial design be granted protection?
An industrial design can be protected if it is new and has an individual character; this means that no identical industrial design shall have been made available to the public whereas the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from any other industrial design.  

4. When an industrial design cannot be granted protection?
An industrial design cannot be granted protection when: it is contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality the features of appearance of a product are solely dictated by its technical function the features of appearance of a product must necessarily be reproduced in their exact form and dimensions in order to permit the product to be incorporated or mechanically connected to another product.

5. What is a Certificate of Registration of a design or a model?
The Certificate of Registration of a design or a model is the protection title granted to the owner for a design that is new and has an individual character.  

6. What does the protection consist of?
The owner of an industrial design is given the exclusive right to use it, to put it on the market, import and export it in this way preventing any third party not having his consent from using it.

7. What risks threaten a non-registered industrial design?
There is no monopoly right of licensing of an industrial design and any third party may use or exploit it without the creator's consent.  

8. What will happen if a third party copies and exploits a registered industrial design?
The owner of the industrial design can file an action before a competent civil court and plead the cessation of the infringement and its omission in the future. In the case of damages he is entitled to claiming restitution or return of any profits gained by any third party as a result of unauthorized exploitation of the industrial design or the payment of an amount equal to a license fee. He can also demand the destruction of the infringing goods or the return of said products to himself.  

 9. Which classes of products can be granted protection?
The following classes of products can be granted protection: jewellery, garments and shoes, foodstuffs, textile items, furniture, decorative articles, packages, parts intended to be assembled into a complex product, machines and constructions, toys and several other classes of products including graphic symbols and typographic typefaces.  

10. What is the procedure towards the grant of an industrial design?
The procedure towards the grant of an industrial design in Greece is simple and brief: four months following the filing date and provided that the application is complete, OBI issues the respective protection title. This title is valid for up to 25 years, if the owner so wishes, whereas the protection fee is renewed every five years.  

11. Can more than one industrial designs be granted protection?
An application can include more than one industrial designs on the term that the products to which they are intended to be incorporated in or applied to, all belong to the same subclass or the same set or composition of items (multiple application). The number of industrial designs included in a multiple application cannot exceed a total of fifty (50).  

12. Is there any fee payable for the protection title?
The protection of the industrial designs is granted against prescribed fees: deposit and registration fee, protection fee and publication or deffered publication fee. The amount of fees shall in no case be considered as a suspending factor for the procedure by the interested parties.

13. How can you protect an industrial design outside Greece?
Owners are entitled to extend the protection of their industrial design outside Greece from within Greece. For Greek citizens and permanent residents of Greece, OBI also operates as a Receiving Office of an international application. Continuation and completion of the procedure is done at the International Office in Geneva (there is also the possibility of depositing an application directly with the International Office in Geneva). The duration of the international protection is respective to that national.