Businesses often search for design or copyright protection after a product, packaging concept, visual identity, website, software application, photograph, catalogue or creative campaign has already been developed. The legal question is not always the same: appearance may call for registered design protection, while original expression may be protected through copyright and contractual control. We help identify which layer of protection is commercially useful.
What companies usually search for
Register an industrial design
Protection of the appearance of products, packaging, furniture, consumer goods, graphical symbols and other visual creations.
EU design registration
EUIPO filing for businesses seeking unitary design protection across the European Union.
Protect product packaging
Combining design, trade mark and copyright strategies where packaging has commercial identity.
Copyright registration / proof of authorship
Evidence strategy for software, graphic works, photographs, texts, catalogues, interfaces and other creative content.
Software copyright
Ownership, employee/contractor contributions, licence scope and documentary chain of title.
Design copied by competitor
Assessment of registered design scope, overall impression and available enforcement steps.
Copyright licence agreement
Permission, territory, duration, media, exclusivity, remuneration and derivative use.
Who owns creative work made by an agency?
Contractual review of commissioned works, assignments and licence clauses.
When registered design protection is especially useful
- Before launching a new product whose appearance is commercially important.
- Before publishing product images or showing prototypes publicly.
- When several visual variants will be commercialised in the same collection.
- When the company expects copying by competitors who can reproduce appearance faster than functionality.
Copyright issues companies repeatedly encounter
- Whether the company actually owns works created by employees, freelancers, agencies or software developers.
- Whether a contract grants ownership or merely a limited right of use.
- Whether online use, advertising use, modification, sublicensing and international use are covered.
- How to document creation dates and authorship for later disputes.
- How to separate pre-existing materials from newly commissioned work.
Combined protection
- Design registration and copyright can coexist where their separate legal conditions are met.
- A packaging shape or product appearance may also justify trade mark analysis.
- Software projects can involve copyright in code, database rights, trade secrets, contractual licences and, in selected technical cases, patent protection.
Examples of indicative fees
| Service | Indicative professional fee |
|---|---|
| Design registrability / strategy review | from EUR 250 + VAT |
| Romanian design filing – professional fee | from EUR 350 + VAT + OSIM fees |
| EU design filing – professional fee | from EUR 450 + VAT + EUIPO fees |
| Multiple-design filing strategy | from EUR 550 + VAT |
| Design clearance / comparative search | from EUR 495 + VAT |
| Design infringement preliminary opinion | from EUR 650 + VAT |
| Copyright ownership / chain-of-title review | from EUR 450 + VAT |
| Copyright assignment agreement | from EUR 450 + VAT |
| Copyright licence agreement | from EUR 650 + VAT |
| Software copyright / licensing review | from EUR 750 + VAT |
| Agency / freelancer IP clauses | from EUR 350 + VAT |
| Evidence file for authorship / creation chronology | from EUR 450 + VAT |
Indicative professional fees only. VAT and official fees charged by OSIM, EUIPO, WIPO, courts or other authorities are not included unless expressly stated. Complex matters, large portfolios and evidence-heavy proceedings are quoted after review.
Start with the issue the business needs to solve
We can first determine the right, territory, procedural route, evidence required and expected cost, then confirm a written scope before filing or taking contentious action.
Contact Weizmann & Partners