Industrial designs protect the shape, appearance, or ornamentation of manufactured articles. Design patents in the United States offer similar protection.

This form of protection is useful where a designer wants to protect the appearance or shape of an article. This type of protection may be appropriate even though there may be nothing new about the function or construction of the article which would make it patentable.

Design protection is also appropriate when the function of a device is so closely related to its shape or appearance that it would be difficult for a competitor to market a device which works as well but has a different appearance. However, the shape or appearance must not be dictated solely by the function, as then the device would have no design qualities at all.