As recently announced by the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), design data from the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the Indian Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDTM) is now available on Designview.

Designview is an online consultation tool allowing internet users to search, free of charge, the registered designs of all participating offices, including the EUIPO, International designs filed under the Hague Agreement and an increasing number of National Offices. It is a multilingual and easy-to-use tool, giving access to design applications and registrations provided by the participating offices though a single platform.

The addition of design data from Japan and India is the result on an ongoing International Cooperation programme managed by EUIPO in collaboration with its international partners and brings the total number designs which can be accessed to almost 13.4 million designs. Since its introduction on 19 November 2012, Designview has served more than 3.2 million searches from 161 different countries, with users from Germany, the UK and Spain among the most frequent users.

Designview provides information on designs such as legal status, representations of designs, owner, etc. It can be used for a variety of purposes, including:

• Pre-filing searches to see if a design is novel and could potentially be registerable
• Freedom to operate searches
• Monitoring competitor activity and market trends

Designview can be accessed through the website of the EUIPO.

If you would like any advice on registered designs please get in touch to speak to one of our attorneys.