The Christmas Holidays are upon us again and it’s time to put up Christmas decorations. Maybe this year your company came up with new design for Christmas stockings, Christmas lights or other Christmas decorations. Maybe your company also plans to benefit from China’s growing market, or maybe you would like to produce these decorations in China, either way, all-around festive atmosphere should not make you forget about counterfeiting and other IP violations that are still  commonplace in China. It is important to obtain design patents in China to protect your product design, whatever your company may be producing. In today’s blog post we are taking a closer look to design patents in China. 

Due to the difference in regional systems, many European companies do not know how to protect their product designs in China. While in Europe you can seek protection for an original work as either a registered or unregistered community design, in China designs fall under the scope of patent protection, while no protection is offered to unregistered designs.

A design patent provides the right holder to exclusive use of a product design for a period of 10 years. As well as providing a legal basis to fight counterfeiters, a design patent also allows you to generate additional revenue by licensing the design to third parties. Continue reading “Protecting your Festive Design in China: Design Patents and Copyrights” »