Introduction

An industrial design renders an object attractive or appealing, thus

increasing its marketability and adding to its commercial value.
The design may be three-dimensional based on the shape or surface of the
object, or two-dimensional based on the object‘s patterns, lines or colors.
Novelty, originality and visual appeal are essential if an industrial design is to be
patented, although these criteria can differ from one country to another. Its
aesthetic features should not be imposed by the technical functions of the
product.
Legally, ―industrial design‖ is the title granted by an official authority,
generally the Patent Office, to protect the aesthetic or ornamental aspect of an
object. This protects solely the non-functional features of an industrial product
and does not protect any technical features of the object to which it is applied.

Industrial design rights are granted to the creator of designs to reward

them for their effort and investment in manufacturing the product. These rights
enable the owner to make articles to which the design is applied or in which the
design is embodied.

The holder of this legal title has the exclusive right to make, import or sell
any objects to which the design is applied. They can authorize others to exploit
the design and bring a legal action against anyone using the design without
authorization.

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 I what is Design ?

Design proposes to look at the future optimistically by turning problems

into opportunities.
Design connects innovation, technology, research, business, and users, to
offer new values and become a lever of competitiveness at the economic, social
and environmental levels.
Industrial Design is the link between existing solutions and possible
innovations. It is a multi-disciplinary profession that uses creativity to solve
sometimes complex problems and co-create solutions by proposing better
products, better systems, better services or experiences, even by proposing an
improvement of the company.
To become an industrial designer is to place the human at the center of his
working methodology.
They have a deep understanding of user needs through the empathy they
have learned to develop, and apply a user-centered pragmatism and problem
solving methodology to design new products, systems, services or experiences.
Designers are involved in the innovation process and they position
themselves as conductors of the various professional disciplines involved in the
project.
They are able to quantify the economic, social, and environmental impacts of
their work as well as their contribution to co-creating a better quality of life.
The different design professions all aim to improve our quality of life.

I.1 application fields of design

Application fields are too large:

 Communication design is a mixed discipline between design and
information-development which is concerned with how media intervention such
as printed, crafted, electronic media or presentations communicate with people.
A communication design approach is not only concerned with developing the
message aside from the aesthetics in media, but also with creating new media
channels to ensure the message reaches the target audience. Some designers use
graphic design and communication design interchangeably due to overlapping
skills

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 Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art
tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In
contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape
architecture and garden design.
 High Tech in architecture. Influenced by engineering and new
technology, High Tech is a style that accentuates a building's construction. ...
It was a concept of design, based on engineering, construction and other
aspects, such as the manipulation of space.
 Virtual reality (VR) is the experience of full immersion in a
simulated world achieved via hardware—e.g., headsets—and software.
Designers create VR experiences—e.g., virtual museums—transporting users to
3D environments where they freely move and interact to perform predetermined
tasks and attain goals—e.g., learning.
 Sport.The influence of design in the world of sport is far-reaching.
Where image and aesthetics are involved, so too is design, and where new
materials emerge, aesthetics or design soon follow. Designs can include athletic
shoes, sports bags and sport apparel such as swimsuits, gym and tennis wear
In a highly competitive marketplace, design that makes a product more
attractive and appealing to consumers plays a critical role in adding
commercial value and making the product more marketable. Companies
invest large sums of money and expertise in developing winning designs that
respond to changing consumer tastes. Registering their designs and obtaining
an intellectual property right over them helps companies defend themselves
against imitators and counterfeiters

I.2 industrial design

Industrial design studies function and form and the connection between
product, user, and environment. Generally, industrial design professionals work
in small scale design, rather than overall design of complex systems such as
buildings or ships. Industrial designers don't usually design motors, electrical
circuits, or gearing that make machines move, but they may affect technical
aspects through usability design and form relationships. Usually, they work with
other professionals such as engineers who design the mechanical aspects of the
product assuring functionality and manufacturability, and with marketers to
identify and fulfill customer needs and expectations.

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 Industrial design (ID) is the professional service of creating and
developing concepts and specifications that optimize the function, value and
appearance of products and systems for the mutual benefit of both user and
manufacturer.
I.2.1 Why protect an industrial design?
Consumers often take the visual appeal of a product into consideration
when choosing between different products. This is especially true when the
market offers a large variety of products with the exact same function. As the
aesthetic appeal of a product can determine the consumer‘s choice an industrial
design adds commercial value to a product.

Protecting an industrial design is also a reward for creativity and

encourages economic development. Above all, it ensures protection against
unauthorized copying or imitation of the design and can be relatively simple and
inexpensive to develop. An industrial design is not protected unless it has been
published in an official bulletin.

II Intellectual Property Rights

Typically the creator of the design owns any rights in it, except where the
work was commissioned or created during the course of employment, in which
case the rights belong to the employer or party that commissioned the work.
Unregistered design rights protect the shape or configuration of a
marketable (or potentially marketable) product, and are used to prevent
unauthorized copying of an original design. Design rights can also be bought,
sold or licensed in a similar manner to copyright.
Design rights exist independently of copyright, while copyright may
protect documents detailing the design as well as any artistic or literary work
incorporated within the finished product, the design right focuses more on the
shape, configuration and construction of a product.
In the UK, unregistered design rights have been available since 1989, and
have been available since March 2002 throughout the European Community.
Unregistered design rights are automatic and are treated in the similar
manner as copyright. For this reason they may be registered with the UK
Copyright Service in the same manner as copyright work in order to establish

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proof of the date and content of the work in case of any later dispute or legal
claims.
What benefits does an industrial design registration provide?
For business owners, an industrial design registration may be a valuable
business asset. The success of a product is usually influenced by its appearance;
in an aesthetic-driven consumer base, the looks of a fashionable product looks
can often be equally or more important than its functionality.

Obtaining exclusive rights to a product with a particular appearance may

result in a substantial return on the investment because it will allow you to
prevent others from reproducing a popular design.
If the industrial design is infringed upon, you may bring the case to court
and be awarded damages for the lost sales you have incurred as a result of the
infringement of the design registration. This allows you to focus on establishing
products on the basis of superior industrial design without worrying about
knock-offs from competitors who can produce items cheaper or who can scale
their manufacturing quicker.

An industrial design registration can also be sold or licensed to others. If

you do not want or do not have the capability to produce the product protected
by your industrial design, you may be able to sell or license your design to
another and earn a royalty on their sales.
Further, your industrial design registration can help you establish
goodwill in the trademark sense in particular shape and appearance of the
article, which is referred to as its get-up in trademark law. Having sufficient
reputation in the get-up of a product becomes a separate ground for excluding
others from copying your design.

II.1 design rights

The four types of intellectual property (IP) include: Trade Secrets,

Trademarks, Copyrights, and Patents.
IP is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the
human intellect. Intellectual property encompasses two types of rights: industrial
property rights (trademarks, patents, designations of origin, industrial designs
and models) and copyright
Art Law.

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 Intellectual property laws give owners the exclusive right to profit from a
work for a particular limited period. For copyrighted material, the exclusive
right lasts for 70 years beyond the death of the author. The length of the right
can vary for patents, but in most cases it lasts for 20 years. Trademark rights are
exclusive for ten years and can be continually renewed for subsequent ten-year
periods.
Copyrights
Copyright laws grant to authors, artists, composers, and publishers the
exclusive right to produce and distribute expressive and original work. Only
expressive pieces, or writings, may receive copyright protection. A writing need
not be words on paper: In copyright law, it could be a painting, sculpture, or
other work of art. The writing element merely requires that a work of art, before
receiving copyright protection, must be reduced to some tangible form. This
may be on paper, on film, on audiotape, or on any other tangible medium that
can be reproduced.
Patents
Patent laws encourage private investment in new technologies by granting
to artists the right to forbid all others to produce and distribute technological
information that is new, useful, and non-obvious. The statutory requirements for
patent protection are more stringent than those for copyright protection.
Furthermore, because patent protection for commercial products or processes
can give a tremendous market advantage to businesses, those seeking patents
often find opposition to their applications. Patent protection can be obtained
only through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Trademarks
Trademark laws allow businesses to protect the symbolic information that
relates to their goods and services, by preventing the use of such features by
competitors. To receive trademark protection, a mark usually must be
distinctive. Distinctiveness generally applies to any coined or fanciful word or
term that does not closely resemble an existing mark. A mark generally will not
receive trademark protection if it is a common or descriptive term used in the
marketplace.

II.2 industrial property rights

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 Intellectual property covers objects that range from works of art and other
artistic intellectual creations, to technical solutions, to signs and business
identifiers used in trade to distinguish persons, goods and services. Industrial
designs are a particular object of protection in the intellectual property gamut,
and enjoy special recognition and treatment.
Industrial design rights are intellectual property rights that make exclusive
the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian. A design patent would
also be considered under this category. An industrial design consists of the
creation of a shape, configuration or composition of pattern or color, or
combination of pattern and color in three-dimensional form containing aesthetic
value. An industrial design can be a two- or three-dimensional pattern used to
produce a product, industrial commodity or handicraft. Under the Hague
Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs, a WIPO-
administered treaty, a procedure for an international registration exists. An
applicant can file for a single international deposit with WIPO or with the
national office in a country party to the treaty. The design will then be protected
in as many member countries of the treaty as desired.

II.3 case of Cameroon

The ‗Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle‘ or OAPI

(African Intellectual Property Organization) is an intellectual property
organization, headquartered in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The organization was
created by Bangui Agreement of March 2nd 1977. The Bangui Agreement was
subsequently amended in 1999.OAPI is made up of 17 member states mostly of
French speaking countries and includes: Benin (BJ), Burkina Faso (BF),
Cameroon (CM), Central African Republic (CF), Chad (TD), Congo (CG),
Equatorial Guinea (GQ), Gabon (GA), Guinea (GN), Guinea-Bissau (GW),
Ivory Coast (CI), Mali (ML), Mauretania (MR), Niger (NE), Senegal (SN),
Togo (TG). These countries are treated as one state in trademark law. Apart
from that there is no national trademark law in the member states. Therefore it is
not possible to obtain national registrations in these countries.
The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) is an
inter-governmental organization (IGO) that facilitates cooperation among
member states in intellectual property matters with the objective of pooling
financial and human resources and seeking technological advancement for
economic, social, technological, scientific and industrial development.

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 Membership to ARIPO is open to all African States members of the
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa or the African Union. There
are currently 19 States which are party to the Lusaka Agreement and therefore
members of ARIPO. These are: Botswana, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya,
Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda, São
Tomé and Príncipe, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is one of the 15
specialized agencies of the United Nations. WIPO was created in 1967 to
encourage creative activity and to promote the protection of intellectual property
throughout the world. WIPO currently has 191 member states, administers 26
international treaties and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
Most Companies globally use signs, names, slogan, shape, sounds and
logos to differentiate their services from another company. Consumers often
identify their products either through their mark; name, slogan, sound or logo
and Intellectual property reflects a subject matter which is the product of the
mind or intellect.
II.3.1 Patent/ Trade Mark & Designs
Patent, trade mark & designs rights are sometimes collectively known as
industrial property as they are typically created and used for industrial or
commercial purposes.
A patent may be granted for new, useful and non-obvious inventions, and
gives the patent holder and exclusive right to commercially exploit the invention
for a certain period of time. A trademark is a distinctive sign which is used to
distinguish the products or services of different businesses. Industrial design
rights right protects the form of appearance, style or design of an industrial
object.

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 II.3.2 Procedure for Registration
A trademark must be registered as registration restrains his competitors
from using the said trademark. The trademark must not be deceptive, illegal,
immoral or similar to existing trademarks.
 File an application depending on the class.
 Foreign applicants need a local agent or legal representative
 A legalized power of attorney
 Examination of the application to avoid conflicting marks.
 After registration the trademark is published in the official
Trademark Bulletin and opposition period is 6 months from the publication date
of the trademark in the Official Gazette.
 The registration is renewed within a period of 10 years.

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 Conclusion

Design registration can provide significant benefits to your business,

including ownership of exclusive rights to manufacture and sale of the design.
This will allow you to exclude competitors from the market as well as the
potential to profitably sell or license your exclusive rights to your design to
others.
If you believe that your industrial design is original and has commercial
potential, industrial design registration is a worthwhile investment.
Unfortunately in Africa and Cameroon in particular, intellectual property
is often flouted or misunderstood or simply unknown. To spread the information
will be the next step of our work

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 References

1. Byrne, John G. 1995."Changes on the Frontier of Intellectual

Property Law: An Overview of the Changes Required by GATT." Duquesne
Law Review 34 (fall): 121–37.
2. Goldstein, Paul. 2002. Copyright, Patent, Trademark, and Related
State Doctrines: Cases and Materials on the Law of Intellectual Property. 5th ed.
New York: Foundation Press.

3. Gray, Megan E., and Will Thomas DeVries. 2003. "The Legal
Fallout from Digital Rights Management Technology." Computer and Internet
Lawyer 20 (April): 20–35.
4. Letterman, G. Gregory. 2001. Basics of International Intellectual
Property Law. Ardsley, N.Y.: Transnational Publishers.
5. McJohn, Stephen M., and Roger S. Haydock. 2003. Intellectual
Property: Examples and Explanations. New York: Aspen.
6. Vaidhyanathan, Siva. 2001. Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise
of Intellectual Property and How It Threatens Creativity. New York: New York
Univ. Press.
7. https://www.ouryclark.com/resource-library/quick-guides/
intellectual-property/design-rights.html
8. https://www.google.com/search?q=industrial+property+rights&ie=
utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b
9. https://businessfirst.com.mt/en/running/Pages/INTELLECTUAL-
AND-INDUSTRIAL-PROPERTY.aspx
10. https://legal-
dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Industrial+property+rights
11. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WITHIN THE AFRICAN
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION (OAPI). prepared
by the nico halle & co. law firm

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