In most countries, an industrial design must be registered in order to be protected under industrial design law. As a general rule, to be registrable, the design must be "new" or "original". Different countries have varying definitions of such terms, as well as variations in the registration process itself. Generally, "new" means that no identical or very similar design is known to have existed before.

The owner shall have the exclusive right to make, or import for sale or hire, or for use for the purposes of any trade or business, either sell, hire or to offer, or expose for sale or hire any article to which the registered design has been applied.

Besides, the owner of the registered design shall have the right to take legal action against the person who infringes their registered design.

The term of protection is generally five years, with the possibility of further periods of renewal up to, 15 years in most cases.