The 2017 Design Law replaced the previous Patents and Design Ordinance. Design laws aim to encourage people to develop new designs for the good of the public. The need for legislative change was inevitable given the technological changes in recent years, which rendered the design laws under the old ordinance unsuitable in light of recent progress and developments.
Examples include new issues that we encountered regarding graphics, screen configurations, smartphones and intangible designs, as well as international agreements to which the State of Israel is a signatory and which necessitated legislation adaptation and amendment.
Amendment of legislation was very important for Israeli designers, especially those in the hardware field, as well as for graphic designers, jewelry designers, fashion designers and others who work abroad and must adapt to working in other countries.
One of the important changes in the law is the protection of unregistered designs. This protection is intended primarily for seasonal designs that change after a short period of time, for example in fashion, in which registration is often an uneconomical and lengthy process.
Another important change occurred with Israel’s joining of the Hague Convention. This enables Israeli designers to file a single application directly with the international bureau, from which they can route the registration to the country in which they want to protect their design.
Our firm offers the following services:
- Draft and file application requests for design registration in Israel and around the world
- Accompaniment and representation up through completion of design registration
- Search for designs to examine whether the design is qualified for registration
- Due diligence
- Licensing agreements
- Design commercialization
- Litigation services in all instances, including the Patent, Design and Trademark Registrar