Design Application & Registration in Malta

An application for the registration of a design (industrial design) shall be filed with the Malta IPO in the Maltese or English language on the appropriate form.

Requirements

Filing requirements for Malta Design Applications:

1. The Power of Attorney (POA Requirements);
2. The applicant's name and address;
3. The design including the related drawings;
4. The description (in English or Maltese) of the design containing its main characteristics;

Claiming Priority

When an applicant wishes to claim priority for a design, by reason of an application for a design duly filed in a Convention Country, the related application must be filed within 6 months from the official date of the first application in the Convention Country.

Requirements & Documentation for Claim of Priority:

• Country, date and application number of the first application;
• Copies of the priority documentation of the first application from the Comptroller of Industrial Property (in case the priorty documentation is not in English a translation is required);

Registrability

"Designs" means the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself, and/or its ornamentation.
The absolute characteristics of a design to be protected by a design right are:

• Novelty and
• Individual Character

Novelty

A design is considered to be new if no identical design has been made available to the public before the date of filing of the application for registration or, if priority is claimed, before the date of priority.
Provided that designs whose features differ only in immaterial details shall also be deemed to be identical.

Individual Character

A design is considered to have individual character if the overall impression it has on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced by any other design which has been made available to the public before the date of filing of the application for registration or, if priority is claimed, before the priority date.
In assessing individual character, the degree of freedom of the designer in developing the design shall be taken into consideration.

Exclusions from Registrability

The registration of a design shall be refused:

• if the design does not fall within the definition of a design in Article 63 of the Malta Patents and Designs Act;
• if it consists of or is significantly made up of the national flag of Malta;
• if it contains a representation of the national flag of Malta and it appears to the Comptroller to be misleading or offensive;
• if it consists of or contains:
  • the arms, or any of the principal armorial bearings of the arms appertaining to the President or to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Malta, or any insignia or device so nearly resembling such arms or any such armorial bearing as to be likely to be mistaken for them or it,
  • a representation of the Presidential or Episcopal flags,
  • a representation of the President or the Archbishop, or any colourable imitation thereof, or
  • words, letters or devices likely to lead persons to think that the applicant either has or recently has had Presidential or Episcopal patronage or authorisation, unless it appears to the Comptroller that consent has been given by or on behalf of the President or the Archbishop;
• if it is contrary to public policy or accepted principles of morality; or
• if the applicant for the right in a registered design is not entitled to it under Maltese law.

Design Registration Process

The timeline from application to registration: