Form · Intellectual Property — Patents, Trade Marks, Copyright, Designs
Design comparison before lodgement or allegation
Comparison of a design with earlier designs against newness and distinctiveness. The lawyer decides. The form does not say the design is registrable.
- Kind
- Form. A form to complete, or a guide to completing an official one.
- Where it applies
- Commonwealth
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the 3 authorities it cites, for Commonwealth.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use before a design application is lodged, or when comparing a registered design with an accused product, after the representations are in the file.
Used for these tasks
- Compare a design application with the Designs Act 2003 compilation before it is lodged
- Build a design prior-art and infringement comparison
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
The tool lines up the representations and the prior-art citations the lawyer supplies, and the lawyer makes the newness and distinctiveness judgement.
AI may
- List prior-art citations with publication or use dates taken from the source the lawyer supplies.
- Place the statement of newness and distinctiveness, if there is one, next to the visual features it identifies.
AI must not
- Do not state that the design is new, distinctive or registrable.
- Do not state that a product infringes.
- Do not draft the application or a statement of newness and distinctiveness.
The lawyer checks
- Apply sections 15, 16 and 19. More weight is given to similarities than to differences.
- Use the standard of the familiar person in section 19(4).
- Check the priority date before treating later publication or use as prior art. Section 16(3) deals with publication or public use on or after the priority date.
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is available after you log in. It is free. When you log in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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All precedents for Intellectual Property — Patents, Trade Marks, Copyright, Designs · Tasks and AI use in this area