Applications for design rights in Australia grew to a record high in 2023, up by 11.5% on their level in 2022. Applications by Australian residents rose by a quarter, focused in design inputs to building and construction. However, a primary driver of the growth was a 10.5% increase in filings from China. Chinese filings nearly doubled in designs for electricity production, transformation and distribution, as patents grew strongly in this field.
Design rights protect the visual features of products from copying.
In 2023, applications for design rights grew to a record high level, up nearly 12% on their level in 2022.
Australian design filings are typically for inputs into building and construction, transport, tools, and hardware and furnishing.
In the past three years though, the strongest relative growth in domestic filings was in equipment for producing, distributing and transforming electricity.
This is consistent with trends in patents, where electrical equipment and machinery is seeing strong growth in IP activity.
Research for IP Australia has found that in Australia’s design-intensive industries, having a registered or certified design is linked to higher productivity, higher R&D spend, and greater exports.
In 2023, applications for design rights grew to a record high level, up nearly 12% on their level in 2022.
Australian design filings are typically for inputs into building and construction, transport, tools, and hardware and furnishing.
In the past three years though, the strongest relative growth in domestic filings was in equipment for producing, distributing and transforming electricity.
This is consistent with trends in patents, where electrical equipment and machinery is seeing strong growth in IP activity.
Research for IP Australia has found that in Australia’s design-intensive industries, having a registered or certified design is linked to higher productivity, higher R&D spend, and greater exports.
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 for creators adequate incentive 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.
Design applications, registrations and certifications
Applications for design rights grew to a record level of 8,776 in 2023, up 11.5% on their level in 2022. Design filings have exceeded their previous peak of 8,123 in 2021, and more than recovered from the 3.1% decline in 2022. Design applications by Australian residents increased by a quarter, up 24.2% (to 2,652) in 2023. Applications by non-residents increased by 6.8%, to a record level of 6,189.
Figure 5.1 Design applications, registrations and certifications in Australia, 2012 to 2023
Design registrations increased to 8,000, up by 5.4% on their 2022 level. The rate of growth from 2022 to 2023 is 3.5 times the average annual rate of growth from 2018 to 2022. Over that period, registration numbers saw significant volatility (see Figure 3.1).
IP Australia certified 1,540 designs in 2023, a 24.1% increase on the previous year. Certifications rose by a quarter both for residents (+25.3%, to 520) and non-residents (+23.4%, to 1,019).
Design classes
In Australia, designs are classified using the Locarno Classification, comprised of 32 product categories.1
The leading design class for filings in 2023 was recording, telecommunications or data processing equipment (broadly, computing equipment). This class includes tablet computers, point-of-sale terminals, and screen displays and icons. Filings for such designs grew by 2.3% in 2023, to 1,017 in total. This followed a 41.4% increase in 2022.
Figure 5.2 Top five design classes for volume of design filings in 2023, and high-volume classes with the greatest relative growth and decline in 20232
Focusing on ‘high volume’ classes, the strongest growth in design filings was in building units and construction elements; they increased by 53.2%, to 579 in 2023. Since 2019, industry revenues for hardware and building supply retailers has declined at an annual rate of 0.1%.3 Apart from 2023, design filings in this class have also been on a declining trend. Revenues across the industry are expected to grow over coming years, due to consolidation by the large hardware chains and sales growth via online retail.4 Australian residents still file most (61.6%) applications in the class.
International design activity in Australia
Record non-resident filings
Applications by non-residents increased by 6.8%, to a record level of 6,189. As a result, non-resident applications have grown for 3 consecutive years, at an average annual rate of 10.4%. This represents a clear break from the declining trend observed pre-pandemic (Figure 5.3).
Figure 5.3 Resident and non-resident design applications, 2014 to 2023
Locations of origin
The leading overseas origins for design filings in 2023 were the United States (US residents were named on 2,097 applications), China (946), the Netherlands (426), Switzerland (367) and the United Kingdom (300). Filings increased across all origins except for the US (–4.3%) and the UK (–13.3%). Filings from China grew by 10.5%, including a near-doubling of designs relating to electricity production, transformation and distribution. Chinese applicants now account for 30.8% of all filings in this class, up from 17% in 2022.
Figure 5.4 Leading locations of origin for design filings in 2023, and high-volume locations with the greatest relative growth or decline in 20235
There was significant growth in applications originating from Switzerland (+61.7%, to 367) and from the Netherlands (+164.6%, to 426). Swiss applications are typically concentrated in clocks and watches, as well as articles of adornment. Together these classes account for 35.9% of total Swiss filings. Dutch filings, typically focused in furnishings, saw a 17-fold increase in games, tents, toys and sporting goods (from 7 to 117 applications).
Domestic design activity in Australia
Last year saw the first yearly increase in resident filings since 2018, with resident applications up 24.2% on their 2022 level, to 2,652. This represents a correction from the sharp 17.9% drop in resident filings in 2022 (see Figure 3.2).
Resident design filings have typically focused in building units and construction elements, means of transport or hoisting, tools and hardware, and furnishing. However, over the past 3 years, the class that has seen the strongest relative growth in resident filings is equipment for the production, distribution or transformation of electricity.
Research for IP Australia in 2019 found that in Australian design-intensive industries, having a registered or certified design is associated with higher productivity, increased R&D expenditure and expanded exports.6 As of 2023, small and medium enterprise (SMEs) filed 68.7% of domestic design filings, with individuals responsible for a further 23.6%.
Leading applicants
In 2023, the list of lead domestic and international design filers in Australia has experienced significant churn from previous years. Netherlands-based VidaX, the lead international filer, was new to the list with 268 applications. The company is an online retailer of home and garden items with filings focused in Furnishings.
Ranked 2nd was the US multinational technology company Apple Inc, with 181 applications focused in Recording, telecommunications or data processing equipment. Apple was followed by French luxury goods conglomerate Cartier International AG, with 99 applications for Articles of adornment.
The list of lead domestic filers is comprised entirely of new entrants, with the exception of Schneider Electric Australia Pty Ltd, in 4th place. The lead domestic design filer for 2023 was Cube in Cube Design & Drafting, a lighting product designer.
Figure 5.5 Top domestic and international applicants for design rights in Australia
Australian filings overseas
In 2022, 2,625 design applications were filed abroad by Australian applicants, based on the latest available data from WIPO. Australian filings abroad fell by 12.5% from their record level from 2021.
China was the only lead destination where Australian filings grew in 2022, up 13.3% on their level in 2021 (see Figure 5.6). Australian filings fell in the remaining 4 of 5 lead destinations – the US, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
The largest fall was recorded in the UK, with Australian applications down 47.4% from their level in 2021. This follows a marked 329.9% increase the previous year. Following Brexit, from 1 January 2021, applicants have been required to register designs directly with the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), rather than with the EUIPO, to obtain protection within the UK.7 This change in requirements likely explains the recent volatility in Australia’s UK filings.
Figure 5.6 Annual volume of Australian design applications in leading destinations, 2012 – 2022
Source: WIPO
Taking IP global: The Hague Agreement
The Hague Agreement on Industrial Designs allows design applicants to seek registration in multiple countries through a single international application. First adopted in 1925, the Agreement covers 96 countries. The European Union became a member in 2006, the US in 2015 and China in 2022. In principle, Australia has agreed to make all reasonable efforts to join the Hague Agreement as part of a free trade agreement (FTA) between Australia and the UK. The agreement allows time to consider legislative and system changes after the FTA’s entry into force.
- For details about the Locarno System, see https://www.wipo.int/classifications/locarno/en/.
- High volume classes are defined as classes above the mean for total applications received in 2023.
- IBISWorld. (2023). Hardware and Building Supplies Retailing in Australia, Industry Report. https://www.ibisworld.com/au/industry/hardware-building-supplies-retailing/1877/.
- IBISWorld. (2023) Online Hardware and Tool Sales in Australia, Industry Report. https://www.ibisworld.com/au/industry/online-hardware-tool-sales/5118/.
- High volume locations are defined as classes above the mean for total applications received in 2023.
- See Kollmann, T., Koswatta, A., Palangkaraya, A. & Webster, E. (2020). The impact of design rights on Australian firms [IP Australia Economic Research Paper 09]. Commonwealth of Australia. https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2020-04/apo-nid313935.pdf. Design-intensive industries are defined as firms within industries above the 95th percentile when ranked by the number of design rights filed by the industries members between 2002-2016, divided by the number of FTE employees in the industry in the same period.
- Changes to EU and international designs and trade mark protection, GOV.UK (2020)