Federal Act on the Protection of Designs
(Designs Act, DesA)

1 A design is con­sidered to have been filed once an ap­plic­a­tion for re­gis­tra­tion has been sub­mit­ted to IPI. The ap­plic­a­tion must con­tain:⁶

a.

a re­quest for re­gis­tra­tion;

b.

a rep­res­ent­a­tion of the design suit­able for re­pro­duc­tion; if the rep­res­ent­a­tion does not ful­fil this re­quire­ment, the IPI will set a time lim­it with­in which the ap­plic­ant must rem­edy the de­fect.

2 The pre­scribed fee for the first peri­od of pro­tec­tion must also be paid with­in the time lim­it set by the IPI⁷.

3 If a two-di­men­sion­al design is filed for which a de­fer­ment of pub­lic­a­tion has been re­ques­ted un­der Art­icle 26, a spe­ci­men of the design may be filed in lieu of the rep­res­ent­a­tion. If design pro­tec­tion is to be main­tained bey­ond ex­piry of the de­fer­ment peri­od, a rep­res­ent­a­tion of the design suit­able for re­pro­duc­tion must first be sub­mit­ted to the IPI.

4 On pay­ment of a fee, a de­scrip­tion of the design con­tain­ing no more than 100 words may be in­cluded to ex­plain the rep­res­ent­a­tion of the design.