The usurpation of the design rights

Intellectual property, being the product of labor processes, has recently become increasingly significant within technological, economical and cultural domains. Designs are, just as any other intellectual property, put under specific protections because of their significant role that they have in society. According to the Law of Design, the design is itself protected along with the owner of the design whom is also given exclusive rights to be effectively protected by the law. Because designs are provided with exclusive and absolute rights, owner rights also become an important issue that we are required to interrogate elaborately. Design rights belong to the actual owner of the design. Therefore, the establishment of usurpation is adopted in order to prevent the unjust registration of the design rights of the actual owner by other parties. This study is attempting, according to the arrangements in our country, to reveal the nature of the design rights and to explicate which court cases and demands can be asserted by the actual owners of the design rights under legal protection. This study contains two parts, not including the abstract and conclusion. In the first part, after the concept of design is defined, the significance and the reasons for the protection of designs are depicted. Concomitantly, the design rights and their nature are analyzed. In the second part of this study, the usurpation of the design rights is presented and interrogated in detail. Additionally, the court cases that the actual owner of the design can appeal to and the demands that he or she can claim are thoroughly examined extensively. Key Words: 1) Industrial design 2) The usurpation of the design rights 3) Intellectual property 4) Design rights 5) Design