Design drawings

Resolution of the World Congress and Executive Committee Cannes, France, 25 to 29 September 2022

“Design drawings”

FICPI, the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys, broadly representative of the free profession throughout the world, assembled at its World Congress and Executive Committee held in Cannes, France, 25 to 29 September 2022, passed the following resolution:

NOTING the wide variation in drawing requirements for design applications globally, with some jurisdictions requiring seven particular views (one perspective view and six orthogonal views, i.e., top and bottom plan views, front and rear elevational views, and left and right side views), and other jurisdictions having a relatively low maximum number of views, for example seven;

OBSERVING that requiring seven particular views can cause applicants to provide views which do not depict any part of the design for which protection is sought, or which add nothing to the understanding of the design for which protection is sought;

FURTHER OBSERVING that having a relatively low maximum number of views, for example seven, does not always enable the best and/or most complete depiction of the design for which protection is sought, for example when the design is movable between different states or otherwise has multiple appearances, when the design has aspects that are best seen with an enlarged view or cross section, or when the design relates to animated graphical user interfaces (GUIs);

URGES jurisdictions to remove requirements in applications for design protection for:

(a) a particular number of views,
(b) specific views, and
(c) a maximum number of views;

thereby allowing applicants flexibility in the choice and number of views to represent their design.

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