A product’s outward visual appearance, for example, its decoration, lines, colours, shape and other features may benefit from design protection. This will afford you, as the creator of the design, an exclusive right to use your design for a period of up to 25 years from the date the initial application is filed, thereby allowing you to take action against anyone who looks to use the protected design without your consent. Protecting a new, unique, innovative product may prove decisive in both entering a new market and preserving a leading market position, while also constituting effective protection against unauthorised copying or slavish imitation of the product by third parties.