Industrial Designs Symposium in Argentina
| Author | Marcus Höpperger |
| Position | WIPO's Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications Sector , Law and International Classifications Division |
Why do businesses invest in design, and how can they protect their investment? Why register industrial designs? How can design protection best be obtained in different countries? These questions and many more were addressed at an international symposium in Buenos Aires on March 20 and 21, jointly organized by WIPO and the National Institute for Industrial Property (INPI), Argentina.
Buenos Aires, the first city ever to be designated a UNESCO City of Design in recognition of its vibrant design industry, was an ideal choice for this international symposium. Attended by designers, lawyers and officials from IP offices from five continents, the Symposium examined current issues and future trends for the protection of industrial designs. It also featured the work of leading Argentinean design businesses, represented by three very different companies, Ferrum, Ruptura and Estudio Cabeza (below).
Industrial design, which brings together the functional and aesthetic features of an object, spans a range of disciplines. The International Council of Societies of Industrial Designs stresses the centrality of design from both an industrial and cultural-sociological point of view, describing it as "a creative activity whose aim is to establish the multi-faceted qualities of objects, processes, services and their systems in whole life cycles." Design, the Council concludes, is "the central factor of innovative humanization of technologies, and the crucial factor of cultural and economic exchange."
WIPO's work on industrial design, from an intellectual property (IP) angle, focuses on creating and maintaining an international legal framework conducive to protecting the rights of designers and rights-holders. This is a complex area, with different options and schemes for protecting designs ranging from sui generis design laws, unregistered designs, and design patents, through to copyright and trademarks.
Indeed, hardly any other subject matter within the realm of IP is as difficult to categorize as industrial design. And this has significant implications for the means and terms of its protection. If the design of a given object can be categorized as a work of applied art, for example, then it may be eligible for protection under copyright law, with the term of protection going much beyond the standard 10 or 15 years...
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