INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY DESIGN FOR CLOTHING INDUSTRY

Each industry in which entrepreneurs operate has various opportunities in practice to protect intellectual property rights – i.e., among other things, the designs on products, their shape, the composition of products, the logos with which products are marked. One such industry, where knowledge of judicial and clerical practice is necessary, is the clothing industry.

SPECIFICS OF THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

In the apparel industry, the very shape and cut of a garment can be protected, as well as the design of the material, the graphics printed on the garment, the logos sewn onto the label, and in the rest, even the appearance of the packaging in which the goods are sold, or the way the store is displayed. All of this can be protected either under copyright, trademark, industrial design, or simply fair competition.

On the other hand, however, the fact that a garment print design was made by a professional graphic designer will not always automatically prove that the garment is protected by copyright. Given the multitude of designs and graphics commonly used in the industry and the repetitive nature of the motifs, it will sometimes be difficult to find the premise of creativity. Therefore, it is not necessarily worth relying on copyright. It may be a good solution to obtain a design right.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN FOR THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY

An industrial design is a new and individually characterized form of a product or part thereof, given to it, in particular, through the characteristics of lines, contours, shape, colors, texture, material of the product or ornamentation. This definition makes it possible to protect many creations that do not qualify as a work under copyright law, but have certain characteristics that distinguish them from other creations of this kind. Design right grants exclusivity to use a specific design of a good for up to 25 years.

However, it should be borne in mind that by obtaining a design right, one obtains exclusivity for the use of that particular design, as well as designs of others that do not differ enough from it to create a different impression on viewers. So, it all comes down to what differences exist between the two designs, what creative capabilities the person developing the design had, and whether the public will notice the differences.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN PROTECTION FOR SOCKS

An example of an industrial design that was the subject of one recent court dispute was the industrial design of socks. Both parties to the dispute had a range of socks with patterned graphics, with the socks often being “out-of-pair” socks, when in a pair of socks each sock had a different design.

From the judgment in question in the case considered by the Regional Court in Gdansk on March 27, 2023, file number XVII GW 75/22, there are some tips for entrepreneurs thinking about registering a clothing design:

• A design should be registered as it will be sold to customers, for example, socks are sold in pairs, so it is incorrect to register a design for only one sock;
• The creative freedom in the apparel industry is wide, so even small differences between designs can be enough to create a different overall impression on the customer, for example, different colors on socks, different lines;
• Customers familiarizing themselves with a design will overlook those elements of the design that are typical and common to products of this type.

HOW MUCH DOES AN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN COST

It costs 300 zlotys to obtain an industrial design right in Poland, and 350 euros in the European Union. After obtaining the right, it is necessary to make periodic fees for the renewal of the right. In Poland, renewal fees are paid every 5 years and amount to 150 zloty for the first period of protection (years 1-5), 250 zloty for the second (years 6-10), 500 zloty for the third (years 11-15), 1000 zloty for the fourth (years 16-20) and 2000 zloty for the fifth (years 21-25) period of protection. In the EU, on the other hand, fees for renewal of design protection range from €90 to €180.