Australian IP report 2025
Key trends for design right filings in Australia in 2024
- Design right filings grew to a record level in 2024, up by 8.9% on their level in 2023. Design registrations also reached a record high, up by 10.7%.
- Application growth was consistent across filings from Australian residents and non-residents, at around 9%, even as Chinese-origin filings surged, with 65% growth from 2023 to 2024.
- New filings were concentrated in means of transport or hoisting, with design filings in this class up 20.5% in 2023 and a further 9% in 2024. Chinese electric car producer, BYD Company, entered the list of leading international design filers, in fourth place, for the first time. These results are consistent with elevated IP activity for transport across the registered rights.
- The surge in Chinese-origin filings also underpinned notable growth in IP protection for home appliances, including autonomous cleaning devices.
What are design rights?
Design rights protect the unique visual features of a product that give it a unique appearance such as its shape, pattern, configuration or ornamentation. To be eligible for protection, a design must be new and distinctive – dissimilar in overall impression to designs that constitute prior art. Once certified, the design right confers to its owner an exclusive right to use, license and commercialise the design for up to 10 years.
Design rights are granted to ensure adequate incentive for creators to invest in design activity. When a design is made public it may be copied and used without the designer’s permission, reducing potential earnings from the design. With a certified design right, the original creator can evidence their right as the creator and issue legal proceedings against infringers.
Read next: Design applications, registrations and certifications and where they came from