Product packaging can be an industrial design
You usually don't pay much attention to shopping for products that are not of significant value. For example, what do you consider when shopping for groceries? In my case, I first look for a product, the packaging of which I know and recognize. Sometimes I read information on the label to make sure it's a good choice, but if I shop in a hurry, without devoting too much time, I just pick the product up.
What does it mean in practice? The appearance of the packaging used for the goods you buy is important. Many studies have been written about packaging design, and companies spare no effort to make their packaging stand out on the shelf and be easily remembered by customers. It's true that interesting packaging will not only attract our attention, but also, if you like the product, you will search for it based on the appearance of the packaging.
You have created the packaging design, it's time to protect it
If you managed to create original and eye-catching packaging, protect it appropriately against copying. When a product becomes successful on the market, it is possible that imitators will appear who will want to make their products similar to your bestseller.
How can you do it?
You can protect the appearance of the product, including its packaging, shape, or label, e.g. by registering an industrial design. An industrial design is the form of a product or its part given to it by the features of lines, shapes, contours, colors, textures, material of the product, or ornamentation. To obtain registration in the territory of Poland (at the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland) or the European Union (at the European Union Intellectual Property Office), an industrial design must meet the conditions of novelty and individual character.
This means that you can protect the shape of the packaging or the appearance of the label by registering an industrial design as long as they are new (i.e. they have not been previously made available to the public) and, for an expert in this market segment, they will differ from other available and known packaging. The protection of an industrial design itself is a territorial right (applies only where registration is made) and is time-limited - it lasts a maximum of 25 years, while protection in the Polish Patent Office or EUIPO must be extended every 5 years if you wish to keep it.
As far as the novelty requirement is concerned, selected legal systems provide some relief.
Disclosure of the design by the creator or his legal successor made within a maximum period of 12 months before the date of filing the design application will not be considered detrimental to the novelty. In such a situation, you will meet the novelty requirement despite disclosure. This allows the creator to introduce the product to the market and check its value in terms of sales.
However, the risk remains that someone will register a similar design before you. Therefore, in the area of packaging protection using an industrial design, I advise you not to wait too long before applying.
In some cases, we can also protect the shape or elements of the label using trademark registration.
However, my experience shows that with many packaging variants (which form e.g. a series) and due to the quick registration procedure, entrepreneurs who want to protect the appearance of the product most often choose industrial designs, and additionally strengthen the protection of repeatable elements, such as the brand name, with protection trademark.
If your products feature interesting packaging or labels, or their appearance alone deserves protection, contact us and we will discuss possible actions together.