Exploration And Research On Intellectual Property In Product Design

The paper targets at the research on products design, and discuss how to design aproduct with intellectual property.Under a research background of applied and authorized quantity of domestic andforeign patents over ten years from1985to2010, The paper analyzes why China is lack ofthe world’s leading design patents through data analysis and observation on changes inproduct design quality, in consideration of lack of substantial review procedures in theChinese patent licensing system at present; as concluded in the paper, the main reason isthat the Chinese designers are short of active awareness of innovation, and often considerthe reference and imitation means as design innovation.The research idea of the paper is based on understanding to legal provisions closelyrelated with design and analysis on intellectual property rights during product design. Theproduct design is significantly impacted by legal definition of product design, productclassification, authorization criteria, term of protection as well as the characteristics of lawitself. If a new design work contain any legally protected content, it will play a leading rolein the goal; in case that any violation occurs, the legally protected content will makeimportant influence on both analysis and judgment procedures on the infringement, anddesign technologies&processes. The patent and protection application process is capableof providing design ideas, design concepts, design methods, means and other useful helpfor product design activities, and the value of design work itself is also reflected through itslegal protection capacity.Pursuant to related laws and rules, the legal definition of product appearance designclearly describes whether a new design work or a new product contains intellectual property;it is shown from comparison between the processional definition in design industry and theabove legal definition: their essences are consistent from different starting points.Innovation is the basic requirement in design; a protectable design should also expresshumanistic concern to consumers by innovation, provide unique understanding andexpression to a variety of demands from consumers. In the judgment process of designinfringement, such the protected value and content are the basis for judgment.From a standpoint of designer, the design classification makes an important impact onintellectual property created in product design; conceptual design, form design, and style design have different creative space. All the types or forms of design can be uniformlyregarded as ways and means to create a product with intellectual property, and the coreissue is how to create the value to be protected as a patent. Any creative content arisingfrom the design is called as design elements as mentioned in the Patent Law; the overalland local matters involved in the Patent Law should also be attended in the design.Novelty, creativity and aesthetic value of new design or new product are the targetsduring the design process, which are also the measurements of the intellectual propertycreated by the design. The core content of this issue is about the study of the above threeaspects. Since consumers are the target group as well as the product users, it is a must to bepeople-oriented while doing the study of novelty, creativity and aesthetic value. Inparticular, the analysis and research of consumers’ visual perception is the key of the corecontent. The factors, which could influence creating intellectual property, are various,including ornamental requirement, non-functionality, and visualization and so on and soforth. Nonetheless it must be specific that the intellectual property value, points andcontents, should be created during the design process.Through the analysis and study of design activities based on design competitions, thispaper has concluded the crucial process in which the product design could create theintellectual property: emphasizing plan of product function, study of product usage,combination of appearance and function, aesthetic style design, color design, visualimpression experience, etc. Consequently, the above aspects have established a solidfoundation for measurement of intellectual property of product.