What is an industrial design?

An industrial design is the two or three-dimensional appearance of a product which can be formed, either separately or in combination, from the shape, configuration, ornamentation, colours, texture etc of a product. An outer shape or an appearance of a product can be registered as an industrial design.

It is also possible to protect two-dimensional exterior design, e.g. a pattern of a cloth, design of a website, a logo etc. Sneakers with the Estonian national pattern, a folded jar for milk packaging, euro coin holder, several furniture designs etc. have been protected as industrial designs. So the term of industrial design enhances exterior designs of all kinds of products.

The exterior designs of only those products can be protected as industrial designs which are visible to the consumer from the outside of the product. A product normally used as a part of another product cannot be protected, because its exterior design is not visible to the consumer. For example, an engine of a vehicle is placed into another product – a vehicle – and it is not visible to the consumer.

Registration of an industrial design does not provide protection to the technical solution of the product, the idea behind the product or the way of manufacturing or use of the product. Only the exterior design will be protected.