Designs
The City of Cape Town awarded the World Design Capital 2014 title!
Congratulations to our Mother City - Cape Town - which has been crowned the World Design Capital for the year 2014.
Committee member, Guy Landie is quoted as saying it is not a victory for Cape Town, but a victory for South Africa and the African Continent.
South Africa has many talented designers active in the field of furniture and lighting, cutlery, crockery, textiles, jewellery and wine and product labels. South African designers and their product designs are highly regarded both locally and internationally and many of them have exhibited, and sold their products overseas. Some of the local trend setters are Haldane Martin, Heath Nash, Gregor Jenkin and Anatomy, to name a few. Many local architects have become involved in designing furniture and interiors to complement their designs. Architects Silvio Rech and Lesley Carstens are pioneers in this field.
Design protection is an area that is often underestimated and ignored by local designers. Aesthetic and functional designs can be registered in South Africa. Functional designs are designs that have features which are necessitated by the function of the article to which the design is applied and are to a lesser extent relevant for this discussion.
Aesthetic designs are however very relevant in the world of designs and can be utilised to obtain strong statutory protection for a period of 15 years.
Competitions run by local magazines have increased the profile of local established and emerging designers. The annual Design Indaba in Cape Town has become a “not to be missed even t” and an opportunity for local designers to showcase their designs.
South Africa’s profile in the world of designs has been raised by Cape Town’s bid to become the World Design Capital 2014 (see www.capetown2014.co.za). There are only 20 days to go before we shall know if Cape Town’s bid was successful!
It is possible to register aesthetic designs applied to any article, whether for the pattern, or the shape, or the configuration or the ornamentation, or a combination of these elements, provided it has features which appeal to and are judged solely by the eye. The aesthetic qualities of a design are irrelevant for purposes of the registration. However, only designs which can be multiplied by an industrial process can be registered. It is therefore not possible to register once-off art works as designs(but they may qualify for copyright protection). Lastly, as a significant monopoly is obtained with a design registration, it is necessary for an aesthetic design to be new and original. A design will be regarded as new if it is different from, or does not form part of the state of the art before the design application is filed or the design is released to the public. A design can still be registered within 6 months from being released to the public.
For more information contact a member of our design group:
Aesthetic designs:
Copyright:
Trade marks:
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The firm practises directly in several Southern African countries and through long-established associates in others.
