La propiedad industrial como herramienta para el diseño de productos

The research area of this doctoral thesis is determined by the interaction between legal and technical disciplines such as the Industrial Property (IP) and the industrial or product design respectively. The area they have in common awakens interest from the perspective of identifying a resource that contributes to the key aspect of design and creativity in the search for different and innovative products. One of the main features is that while industrial design can incorporate into a single product ornamental, distinctive and technical functions, the IP system manages these aspects separately. That is why we can say that industrial design is related to the IP through the different types of protection: industrial design, marks (three-dimensional) and patents. In this regards, IP governs the aspects related to the protection of creative methods, additionally it has available the resources of patent databases, identified and consolidated by companies that traditionally considered the industrial property in theirs process design. However, in this research it has been detected additional contributions from judicial interpretations and administrative clarifications of the legal affairs in patents, trademarks and designs. The aforementioned contributions have an impact on the design process in the research phase (analysis of information, establishment of legal-technical, legal-ornamental and legal-distinctive requirements); in the identification of new guidelines for developing conceptualization phase (variation or addition of new ornamental, functional or distinctive features), and in the validation phase (innovation). Additionally, the structure of the patent document has provided guidance for the inclusion of additional information in the documentation phase (technical report on innovation). Furthermore, feedback from professionals and students groups linked to the area of design has been a key factor when developing guidelines for the implementation of the proposed legal tools. Likewise, the opinion of many ...