10.6. Product: Manufactured or handmade

The terms ‘manufactured’ and ‘handmade’ underline the fact that design protection has an industrial nature. There is a strong sense that the thing must be made using a physical process. For example, a toothbrush is a tangible object that is made using a manufacturing process.

Things that occur naturally cannot be registered. For example, while a carved potato is a ‘thing that is manufactured or handmade’, an unaltered potato is not.

​​​​​​​Ethereal or invisible objects (like electrical signals) are not ‘things’ because they are not tangible – they lack material substance. ​​​​​​​

Examples

• The base of a fountain and the water spout within it are designed to generate a fountain of a particular shape. The base and water spout are tangible objects that can be registered. However, the water jet that comes from the fountain is ethereal – it is not a manufactured or handmade ‘thing’. Therefore, it cannot be registered.
• A building plan is not a tangible object and is not manufactured or handmade. The plan may be covered by some other kind of right – for example, artistic and literary works are automatically protected under the Copyright Act.​​​​​​​

Newness and distinctiveness

See Assessing newness and distinctiveness for information on determining whether a product is new and distinctive.

Design at rest

See Variable visual features for information on viewing visual features as though the design is ‘at rest’.