Patents protect inventions relating to machines, apparatus, devices, procedures and products, and they must have an industrial application, novelty and inventive application.
Industrial designs protect the products’ appearance, adding a benefit to the use of said product, whether it is two-dimensional or three-dimensional. That is the reason why, the same product may be registered both as a patent and an industrial design.
In both cases, the owner has exclusive rights and he will benefit from the fruits of its commercialization. Patents’ rights last for 20 years since it has been applied. After said time, it remains as public domain. In the case of industrial designs, they last 5 years and they may be renewed for two more periods of five years each.
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