What is registered design + certification?
The AU quirk stated plainly: a registered design is enforceable only after certification — we prepare both steps so the right comes with teeth.
In India, a registered design is enforceable the day it's granted, because the Indian Designs Act 2000 examines novelty before registration happens at all. Australia runs a two-stage system, and the gap between the stages is the thing most India-based founders don't find out until it costs them: a design filed and registered with IP Australia under the Designs Act 2003 has only cleared a formalities check — did the application include proper representations, is the product correctly classified. Nobody at IP Australia has yet looked at whether the design is actually new or distinctive compared to what's already out there. That question only gets answered if someone pays for examination, and until examination is requested and passed, the design is registered but not certified — and an uncertified design cannot be enforced against a copycat in court.
This matters most for a product-based business — furniture, packaging, hardware, consumer goods, anything where the visual shape or ornamentation is the thing worth protecting rather than the underlying function. A registered-but-uncertified design still does two useful things: it establishes a priority date on the public register, and it can deter casual copying because a competitor doing due diligence will see the entry. What it cannot do is anchor an infringement claim. If a competitor starts selling a near-identical product, the registration alone gives no legal teeth — the owner has to request and pay for examination first, wait for the examiner's substantive search, and only then, if the design passes, does it become certified and enforceable.
Who does what
Design filings are prepared and coordinated; contested matters and infringement advice go to a registered attorney or lawyer.
Who does what
| Your CapEasy team | Registered design + certification, the reconciliations and reporting behind it, and the questions list that keeps it honest. |
| Your registered BAS or tax agent | Everything that carries a licence in Australia — rendered exactly as written: work out what goes on your bas, or advise you on it — under tasa 2009 that requires registration we do not hold. |
| You | One conversation with one named person, and the decisions that are genuinely yours. |
Registered design + certification in Australia
Registration is a formalities check only — it does not examine whether the design is new
IP Australia's Case Examination Group checks minimum filing requirements at the registration stage: are the representations (drawings or photos) adequate, is the product correctly named and classified. That check is administrative, not substantive — it never asks whether anyone else has already made or shown something that looks the same. A design can clear registration and still fail examination later if the visual features aren't actually new or distinctive against prior art the examiner finds in a worldwide search.
A registered-but-uncertified design cannot be enforced in court
This is the single fact every AU design client needs to hear before they think they're protected: registration alone gives a registration date and the deterrent value of appearing on the public register, but the owner cannot bring an infringement action on an uncertified design. To sue a copycat, the design has to pass a separate, on-request examination and become certified first — which means the enforcement clock doesn't start running the day the design is registered, it starts the day examination is requested.
Examination can be requested by the owner, or forced by a third party challenging the design
Either the registered owner can request examination when they want to enforce, or a third party — typically someone accused of copying the design who wants to test whether it should be enforceable at all — can request it against someone else's registration. When a third party requests it, the government fee is split between the requester and the registered owner, and if the owner doesn't pay their share within the notified window, the registration ceases. We track any third-party examination request that lands against a client's design and flag the payment deadline immediately.
The design right runs 5 years, renewable once, 10 years maximum — not indefinite like a trademark
Where a trademark renews indefinitely in 10-year blocks, a design registers for an initial 5-year term and can be renewed once for a further 5 years, after which protection ends permanently — there is no further renewal option. We track both the initial term expiry and, if renewed, the final 10-year cutoff in our own system rather than relying solely on an IP Australia reminder, since a missed renewal on a design can't be recovered the way a lapsed trademark sometimes can.
What your registered BAS or tax agent receives from us
- A design application file — product representations (drawings or photos) formatted to IP Australia's minimum filing requirements, plus the product name and classification.
- A registration status log, tracking the formalities check outcome and, if a deficiency is flagged, the 2-month window to correct it before the application lapses.
- A registration date and design number confirmed on the public Designs Register, held on file the moment formalities pass.
- A design file prepared for examination — the same representations plus any context on the design's development, ready for the registered patent attorney requesting certification.
- A renewal calendar tracking the initial 5-year term and, if renewed, the final 5-year extension, flagged well ahead of each expiry.
- A notice log for any third-party examination request against the design, with the fee-payment deadline calculated from the date of notification.
