Registered Design Articles

Identical Designs & Dispute Resolution

Should a situation arise where a dispute needs to be settled about two identical designs, you will need the assistance of intellectual property attorneys to help you defend your claim, make a counter claim or initialise proceedings against the infringing party.

Our experienced intellectual property lawyers are here to assist in a professional and ethical manner.

Disputes about identical designs can arise because of:

A competitor considering the other party as using a product that is similar to the one of the competitor in the design.
A competitor, makes, uses, imports or disposes of a product similar to a design registered by a party.

Although a dispute is about identical designs, it can also be about designs which show striking similarities in the overall impression for which one of the parties has registered a design.

Actions which can lead to an infringement lawsuit against a competitor regarding an identical or similar design include that of:

Making
Importing
Renting out
Selling
Disposing

Why take action to resolve a dispute about identical or similar designs?

Should you refrain from taking action against an infringing party, you can lose a large part of your market share to the infringing party.

Loss of revenue and the damaging of your company or design reputation because of the infringement can lead to bankruptcy and loss of creditability unless you take action against the party.

Although you may need to go to court at the end of the day to defend your design against an infringing party, one should always try to get a settlement without incurring unnecessary legal costs and time loss because of such an action.

We thus aim to get a settlement first to ensure minimal costs. If however, more aggressive legal action is required, we will guide you regarding the appropriate actions. We have an experienced litigation team to assist with such.

Design Links

Identical Designs & Dispute Resolution - Should a situation arise where a dispute needs to be settled about two identical designs
Concept Design Registration - Our Designs Act provides for aesthetic and functional designs to be registered. Should you thus have a concept design
Interaction Design - Interaction design and User-experience design facilitate interactions between people and their environment.
Industrial Designs - Industrial designs in South Africa can be filed as Functional Design or an Aesthetic Design, or both.
Registered Design - Registered designs in South Africa: A Registered design can be filed as Functional Design or an Aesthetic Design, or both.
Aesthetic Design - The features of an Aesthetic Design are judged solely by the eye and are not involved in the function of an article.
Functional Design - Functional Design applies to the pattern, shape, ornamentation or configuration and performance of an article