Before registering, you should make sure that your creation has not been registered before. You can search in the SPTO databases. It is also useful to check competitors' disclosures. You can prepare a graphical representation of your designs suitable for publication and decide on a commercial strategy.
You must indicate the name and address and pay the application fee. If you act through a representative, you must provide the power of attorney. To benefit from the priority right of an earlier application in another country, you must indicate this at the time of application. You can ask for deferment of publication. Please note that for multiple applications all designs must belong to the same Locarno class.
We recommend electronic submission:
If there are any defects preventing publication, the SPTO will send a notification to the applicant so that they can make allegations or rectify them within the established period.
If the application has no defects preventing its publication or if these have been remedied within the time limit, it is published in the Official Industrial Property Gazette and there is a two-month period for the submission of third-party oppositions.
In the event of oppositions, the design owner is given notice to file objections or to amend the registered design within two months. If the opposition is based on earlier registered trademarks, the owner of the contested design may request that the opponent prove use of that trademark, provided that certain circumstances are met. It is important to prove use, otherwise the opposition may be rejected.
The SPTO will carry out a substantive examination of the requirements for protection on the basis of the grounds presented in the oppositions and the arguments of the holder. Finally, the SPTO will decide whether to maintain or cancel the registered design. This decision will be published in the Official Industrial Property Gazette and may be appealed within a period of 1 month from the date of publication of the decision.