FAQ Entry #341

This is a respond to a previously asked question about the A' Design Award and Competition. The full list of frequently asked questions can be accessed here.

#341: Can I join the design award competition without a patent?

Yes, you can join the design award and competition without having a patent for your design. However, when you do so, you always risk the possibility to loose rights to register your design unless you join our concealed categories. Winning a design competition could result your work be published and in some countries, published works cannot be patented. Thus, we have a participation method called concealed entry; in this case you are announced as a winner but your work does not get published in the book or send to press.

Keywords: concealed categories, patent, intellectual property, design rights, industrial design rights, concealed entry

The following questions could be related:

• #60: Do I need to have a patented, labelled, trademarked or registered product, design or idea to participate in the competition?
• #61: Can I join with my patented, registered, trademarked or labelled products, designs or ideas?
• #134: I am interested in joining the Design competition, but I do not have the copyrights or patents regarding my idea/design. I would like to know if I am eligible without them. If I apply without a patent, what could ensure that my idea/design is secure, how can I protect my design/idea.
• #156: Concerning the privacy and publishing settings I am not quite sure which option to go for. I have no patent for my product, yet if I should be a winner then I would be most interested in having my design published and sent to the press. If my design is seen in various media after I have filed for a patent then I would be more reassured. However, if press release takes place when no measures have been taken to obtain a patent, then this would be risky.
• #157: I have my brand or logo patented in my country only. If I were to show this logo in publications, would this be detrimental to the continued existence of my brand, since it will be exposed at an international level where I have no protection. Would an additional copyright covering 164 countries help ?
• #188: Is it safe for me to submit designs that I do not yet have patents on?
• #199: I have an approved patent for my design, can I still join the design competition?
• #226: Will my award winning entry publicly visible? Can I patent it after results announced?
• #272: Our company usually uses a picture, which isn't created by us, but we have got rights to use it as we bought the image. Can we upload this image to as a part of our project presentation to A' Design Award?
• #286: I would like to know who will have the patent of designed product. will it belong to winner or your committee?
• #309: Will the intellectual property rights of the designer be protected as a result of the submission of the design?
• #340: I have submitted my design. But I haven't got a patent yet. Is it safe (my design will not be stolen) if I submit my design? If there is a risk for me losing the patent of my design, I might think again before joining the competition?
• #344: I want to use the design mediation services to sell my design and I already made international patent filing for it for that purpose but I do not know how to set the price for my design?
• #450: If the winner design is in a concealed category, will these works be displayed in the award ceremony in the screen or stage?
• #456: I have an award winning work, will the design award cover the cost of my international patent application?
• #509: What are the difference between patents and copyright for the costs and duration?
• #510: Can I take someone else photo or design and use in my design or work?
• #511: Is my design protected by copyrights?
• #514: How do I prove that I am the original photographer of the photo? How do I prove that a photograph was taken by me?
• #524: How long will the results of the A' Design Award be kept confidential?
• #534: Is there risk of publishing my design online from the perspective of copyrights and patents?

If you did not find your answer, please feel free to check the faq pages for more questions and answers. You will also want to check our webpage for details; thanks to our transparency policy, we document and publish everything.