How to get a Design Pending Number

What a Design Pending Number does

Protect the "shape" of your product by getting a Design Pending Number.

A Design Pending Number gives you the right to file design registrations in 177 countries for the next 6 months. This means that, should a copycat product appear in Australia in 5 months' time, you may file an Australian design registration within the 6 month period, claiming the date of your Design Pending Number and sue the Australian competitor for infringement of your Australian design registration.

A design registration prevents others from making, importing, advertising, selling and using a product that looks "substantially similar" to your product. It also allows you to mark your product worldwide:

"DESIGN PENDING" or "DES. PEND."

Marking your product with a Design Pending Number should keep copycats at bay for at least 6 months, giving you a proper "worldwide" first‐to‐market head‐start.

Design Pending Number requirements

Your product must have a unique shape ‐ the product itself need not be "new"; it just needs to look slightly different. For example, if you make a cuboid teacup with a triangular handle, you can get a Design Pending Number for the shape of your teacup. Others can make teacups; they just can't make teacups that look substantially similar to yours.

Although some countries / regions (e.g. the US, the European Union, Russia, Turkey, South Africa, Southern Africa (ARIPO) and Canada) permit public release of products within a 6 month / 12 month period before filing a design registration, it is best to get a Design Pending Number before publicly releasing your product (disclosures subject to confidentiality undertakings are permitted).

Steps to get a Design Pending Number

Example of completed form ⇨

Get a Design Pending Number in 6 easy steps:

1. enter the applicant's name and address;
2. enter the product type (e.g. game board, GUI, clothing, shoes, bottle, chair);
3. enter the article class (e.g. class 1 for foodstuffs, class 21 for board games, class 9 for containers);
4. sign forms;
5. upload drawings / photos of the product; and
6. pay US$99.

Early "rip‐offs" are generally copycat products, that use a scan of your product to create a mould. Design registrations are specifically tailored to keep these copycat products out of the market and let you jump the gun.

Start now

Nothing further is required from you. Within a couple of business days, we will send you a Design Pending Number. There are no further payments or actions, and no obligations are imposed on you.

List of design classes

1. foodstuffs;
2. clothing;
3. travel goods;
4. brushware;
5. textiles;
6. furnishings;
7. household goods;
8. tools and hardware;
9. packages and containers;
10. clocks, measuring instruments and signalling instruments;
11. articles of adornment;
12. means of transport and hoisting;
13. equipment for production or distribution of electricity;
14. recording and communication equipment;
15. other (unspecified) machines;
16. photographic apparatus;
17. musical instruments;
18. printing and office machinery;
19. stationery and office equipment, teaching materials;
20. sales and advertising equipment, signs;
21. games, toys, tents and sporting goods;
22. arms, articles for hunting, fishing and pest killing;
23. fluid distribution equipment, sanitary, heating, ventilation and air‐conditioning equipment, solid fuel;
24. medical and laboratory equipment;
25. building units and construction elements;
26. lighting apparatus;
27. tobacco and smokers' supplies;
28. pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, toilet articles and apparatus;
29. fire and accident prevention and rescue equipment;
30. articles for the care and handling of animals;
31. machines and appliances for preparing food or drink;
32. graphic symbols and logos, surface patterns, ornamentation, GUIs.

Rights and countries

Design Pending Numbers are regulated by the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

Design Pending Numbers give you the legal right:

• publicly to disclose / sell / use your product without impacting your right to design register it;
• to mark your product "Design Pending" worldwide; and
• to file corresponding design registrations in the following 177 countries during the next 6 months:

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican, Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea‐Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San, Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra, Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and, Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Where to file

According to the Paris Convention, the Design Pending Number document must be filed in a country that is a member of the Paris Convention ("Member Country"). However, you are free to select any Member Country in which to file. No Member Country may discriminate against you on the basis that your Design Pending Number was obtained from another Member Country.

We have:

• identified the Member Country that: offers the most affordable Design Pending Numbers; and processes Design Pending Numbers electronically;
• developed software that integrates directly with that Member Country's electronic processing system; and
• teamed up with the most sophisticated patent law firm in that Member Country to facilitate filing of Design Pending Numbers electronically.

This enables us to offer Design Pending Numbers at the lowest cost available worldwide. It matters not where you are. Everyone can now get a Design Pending Number for only US$99.

Secrecy

The documents you file with your Design Pending Number application are kept secret for at least 6 months. During this period, no‐one may obtain a copy, and the only information about your Design Pending Number that a competitor may access is:

• the product type;
• the filing date;
• the class; and
• applicant's name and address.

Guaranteed Design Pending Number

Your Design Pending Number documents are not subject to any search or examination. As long as:

• the forms have been completed correctly; and
• drawings / photos of your product have been lodged,

a Design Pending Number will be issued.