North America - Industrial design applications, resident, by count

The value for Industrial design applications, resident, by count in North America was 22,424 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 40 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 25,321 in 2016 and a minimum value of 5,834 in 1981.

Definition: Industrial design applications are applications to register an industrial design with a national or regional Intellectual Property (IP) offices and designations received by relevant offices through the Hague System. Industrial designs are applied to a wide variety of industrial products and handicrafts. They refer to the ornamental or aesthetic aspects of a useful article, including compositions of lines or colors or any three-dimensional forms that give a special appearance to a product or handicraft. The holder of a registered industrial design has exclusive rights against unauthorized copying or imitation of the design by third parties. Industrial design registrations are valid for a limited period. The term of protection is usually 15 years for most jurisdictions. However, differences in legislation do exist, notably in China (which provides for a 10-year term from the application date). Resident application refers to an application filed with the IP office of or acting on behalf of the state or jurisdiction in which the first-named applicant in the application has residence. Design count is used to render application data for industrial applications across offices comparable, as some offices follow a single-class/single-design filing system while other have a multiple class/design filing system.

Source: World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Statistics Database at www.wipo.int/ipstats/. The International Bureau of WIPO assumes no responsibility with respect to the transformation of these data.

See also:

Year Value
1980 6,267
1981 5,834
1982 6,415
1983 6,243
1984 6,677
1985 7,176
1986 7,459
1987 8,326
1988 8,536
1989 9,466
1990 8,764
1991 10,247
1992 9,592
1993 10,615
1994 12,673
1995 11,682
1996 11,449
1997 12,134
1998 11,938
1999 12,041
2000 12,287
2001 11,785
2002 13,753
2003 14,462
2004 14,549
2005 15,107
2006 14,879
2007 16,050
2008 16,127
2009 15,622
2010 17,557
2011 18,233
2012 19,659
2013 21,117
2014 21,179
2015 23,582
2016 25,321
2017 24,433
2018 23,601
2019 23,722
2020 22,424

Limitations and Exceptions: An industrial design right protects only the appearance or aesthetic features of a product, whereas a patent protects an invention that offers a new technical solution to a problem. In principle, an industrial design right does not protect the technical or functional features of a product. Industrial design registrations are valid for a limited period. The term of protection is usually 15 years for most jurisdictions. However, differences in legislation do exist, notably in China (which provides for a 10-year term from the application date). Data are based on information supplied to World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) by IP offices in annual surveys, supplemented by data in national IP office reports. Data may be missing for some offices or periods.

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Infrastructure Indicators

Sub-Topic: Technology