Furniture, fashion, everyday objects: what a product looks like is deciding more and more often whether we buy it. Almost three out of four consumers in the EU are willing to pay more for a better-designed product – in Austria the figure is 71%. This is the finding of a recent study by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). For companies, the message is clear: good design is more than an accessory – it’s a tangible competitive advantage.
Design drives the economy
The economic effect of design is considerable. Design-intensive industries employ around 28 million people in the EU and generate more than 16% of its economic output. The value of a protected design is particularly clear among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): those that register their designs generate almost 30% more revenue per employee on average and pay around 25% higher wages than businesses without registered rights.
Design is gaining ground with consumers as well – above all with younger ones: 80% of 18-to-24-year-olds say that the way a product looks has a significant influence on their buying decision. First impressions count for most when it comes to furniture (76%) and to clothing and accessories (66%).
The cost of counterfeits
Because design is so valuable, it increasingly becomes a target for copycats. Around 13% of people in the EU have knowingly bought counterfeit goods at some point; among 15-to-24-year-olds the figure rises to 26%. The damage is substantial: in the clothing industry alone, manufacturers in the EU lose around €12 billion in sales every year, with a further €2.7 billion lost on handbags, jewelry and watches.
Austria accounts for roughly €580 million of this in the fashion industry and around €100 million in the jewelry and accessories sector. On top of that, counterfeit products often fail to meet safety and quality standards and can therefore become a health risk as well.
SMEs are hit particularly hard by counterfeits: they often rely on a small number of distinctive designs and have few resources to track down imitations and take action against them.
How to protect your design
A chair, a sneaker, a phone case: anyone who thinks about protecting their design early on secures not just a creative lead, but an economic one too.
So far, though, only around 1% of SMEs in the EU have registered their designs – even though protection is easier today than ever. A recently adopted reform of EU design law has simplified the procedures, lowered the costs and created new options, such as the registration of animated designs.
If you want to protect a design, you have two options. For protection in Austria, the Austrian Patent Office is the place to go. If the protection is to apply across the EU, a single online application to the EUIPO is enough – EU designs are valid in all 27 member states.
More information:
EUIPO study on designs
Register designs with the Austrian Patent Office
Photocredit thumbnail: EUIPO