– Industrial Property Law of June 30, 2000 (uniform text of June 22, 2023).
– Regulation of the Prime Minister of January 30, 2002, as amended.
– Regulation of the Prime Minister of March 2, 2004 on payments, amended on February 26, 2008.

– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act.
– European Community Design Regulation, since May 1, 2004.
– Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, Geneva Act, since July 2, 2009.
– Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs, since January 22, 2014.

Applicant: same as for “patents“.

Foreigners: enjoy the same rights as nationals; must appoint a patent agent as their representative.

Notion of industrial designs: any product being new and having the appearance of individual character resulting from lines, colors, shape, texture or materials of the product and its ornamentation, e.g. any industrial or handicraft item, including, in particular, packaging, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces, but excluding computer programs, moreover a product which is composed of multiple changeable components, permitting disassembly and reassembly of the product (complex product), as well as a changeable component part of a complex product, which, if, once incorporated into the complex product, it remains visible during normal use (excluding maintenance, servicing or repair of the complex product). Spare component parts being used for restoring the original appearance of the complex product shall not be protected.

Novelty: an industrial design shall be considered new if, before the date according to which the priority to obtain a right in registration is determined, no identical design has been made available to the public, i.e. used, exhibited or otherwise disclosed and it could not have become known to the circles specialized in the field, to which the design belongs; the registration has not been excluded if the industrial design has been disclosed to a third party under explicit or implicit conditions of confidentiality, or it has been disclosed during the twelve-month period preceding the date according to which the priority to obtain a right in registration is determined, by the designer, his successor in title or a third person with the right holder’s consent, as well as if the disclosure has occurred as a consequence of an abuse in relation to the designer or his successor in title.

Individual character: an industrial design shall be considered to have individual character if the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced on such a user by any design, which has been made available before the date according to which priority is determined.

Series application: up to ten forms of an industrial design representing the same essential features, unless the said forms taken together constitute a complete set of products.

Description of industrial design(s): optional.

Priority: six months from original application or first authorized display; further requirements - same as for “patents“.

Classification: according to the International Classification of Locarno.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney;
2. Illustrative material – drawings or photographs, capable of being reproduced in a scale 1:3; samples of textile fabric may also be enclosed;
3. Assignment deed(s), if the inventor is not the applicant in Poland or the applicant of the priority application is not the applicant in Poland; respective statements on acquired rights could replace them;
4. Priority document, as for “patents“.

For a change of name or address: any official document that proves the change e.g. an extract from the Commercial Register (original or a notarized copy).

Examination – registration: after having ascertained that the formal requirements provided for an industrial design application have duly been made up and it does not belong to items excluded from registration.

Delivery of document: the right to register an industrial design is announced by the issue of a decision only valid after payment of the maintenance fees for 1st-5th years.

Publication: information concerning the registration of the industrial design is published in the Official Journal “Wiadomosci Urzedu Patentowego” (with a representative drawing).

Opposition: may only be filed after registration has been granted, within six months from the date of publication of the granting decision.

Beginning of protection: from the filing date of the application.

Duration of protection: twenty-five years.

Annuities: 1-5 years (payable within three months from the date of delivery of the decision on registration), 6-10 years, 11-15 years, 16-20 years, and 21-25 years.

Late payment: surcharge of 30% if the payment is delayed.

Marking of registered goods: not required; usual marking: Nr. Rej … .

Use: not required.

Assignment: in written form,possible with or without the business.

License: same as for “patents“.

Infringement: same as for “patents“.