Services An Industrial Design or an Industrial Model is the outward visible appearance of the whole or part of a product resulting from the specific features thereof, such as lines, shape, colour etc. Examples of products that can be granted protection as Designs or Models are jewelry, garments and shoes, machines and constructions, furniture and toys. A Design or a Model can be protected if it is new and has an individual character. The owner of a protection title has the exclusive right to use the Design or Model, i.e. to put it onto the market, export it etc., in this way preventing any third party not having his consent from using it. In Greece, applications for protection of Industrial Designs or Models are filed with the Organization of Industrial Property (www.obi.gr). The protection title is valid for up to 25 years as from the application date, if the owner so wishes, whereas the protection fee is renewed every five years. International Application Owners can extend the protection of their Design or Model outside their country by filing an international application. The filing of the international application aims at the simultaneous (through a single application) seeking of a Design protection in each of a number of countries all over the world under the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs. An international deposit produces the same effects in each of the countries concerned as if the Design had been deposited there directly, unless protection is refused by the competent Office of that country. The duration of the international protection is respective to that national. The applicant has to file a single international application with the International Bureau in Geneva (www.wipo.int). Alternatively, he can file it with the national Office of a contracting state, which will act as a "Receiving Office", where the law of such state so permits. STATES THAT CAN BE DESIGNATED IN AN status in March 2010
Total: 56 States
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