Industrial Design Portfolio Management

▌ A. DESIGN RENEWALS & ANNUITY MANAGEMENT

Protecting Your Design Asset Through Timely Renewal

Industrial design registrations are not perpetual — they must be renewed periodically to remain in force. In the UAE and most GCC jurisdictions, design registrations are granted for an initial 5-year term and must be renewed at the end of each period to maintain protection. Failure to renew on time results in the design registration lapsing — and once lapsed, a competitor may freely copy the design.

Our Renewal Management Service

• Centralised renewal calendar for all design registrations across every jurisdiction in the portfolio
• Advance deadline alerts at 6 months, 3 months, and 30 days before each renewal due date — no deadline is ever missed
• Annual renewal recommendation reports: designs approaching renewal are flagged with a commercial value reassessment to inform the renewal decision
• Prompt, verified government fee payment with official confirmation records provided to the client
• Emergency reinstatement filings where a renewal deadline has been inadvertently missed — acting within the available grace period

▌ B. ASSIGNMENT RECORDING

Formally Recording Ownership Transfers at the Registry

When a design registration is transferred from one party to another — through a commercial sale, corporate restructuring, group entity transfer, or M&A transaction — the assignment must be formally recorded at the national design registry to be legally effective against third parties. An unrecorded assignment leaves the new owner without enforceable rights against infringers and without standing to bring enforcement proceedings.

Our Assignment Recording Services:

• Drafting and reviewing design assignment agreements — legally precise, commercially complete, and appropriate for the specific jurisdiction
• Preparing and filing recordal applications with the UAE Ministry of Economy, Oman IPD, and all GCC national design registries
• Multi-jurisdiction coordinated assignment recordal for portfolio-level ownership transfers across multiple countries simultaneously
• Tracking and confirming successful recordal at each registry, with updated portfolio records for the client
• Advising on jurisdiction-specific documentary requirements: notarisation, legalisation, apostille, and certified translation

▌ C. OWNERSHIP CHANGES

Managing Design Ownership Across Corporate Events

Design ownership changes arise across a wide range of corporate events — acquisitions, mergers, demergers, group restructuring, founder exit, and insolvency scenarios. We manage:

• Bulk portfolio transfers: updating design ownership across multiple registrations and multiple jurisdictions simultaneously
• Post-M&A recordal: ensuring design registrations are correctly transferred and recorded as part of acquisition asset completion
• Group restructuring: transferring designs to new IP holding entities within a corporate group
• Employee and contractor design ownership verification: ensuring company employment contracts, commissioning agreements, and contractor arrangements correctly vest design rights
• Corrective assignments: where designs are found to be held in the wrong entity's name, preparing and executing remedial assignment documentation

▌ D. DESIGN LICENSING

Generating Revenue Through Design Licensing

Design Licensing Services: Drafting agreements, structuring royalty mechanisms (per-unit, lump-sum, minimum guarantees), advising on licensee due diligence and quality control, and recordal of licences at national registries.

▌ E. PORTFOLIO MONITORING

Watching for Third-Party Conflicts and New Infringements

• Watch service on newly published design applications: UAE, GCC, WIPO Hague, EUIPO, and key Asian and US markets
• Visual similarity analysis: assessing if newly identified designs create a conflict with your portfolio
• Market monitoring: systematic tracking of competitor product launches, trade catalogues, e-commerce listings, and trade fair appearances
• Opposition deadline tracking: ensuring conflicting published applications are acted upon within the opposition period
• Monitoring reports: monthly or quarterly structured reports covering identified conflicts, infringement candidates, and recommended actions