Written by expert scholars and practitioners, this unique Research Handbook presents the state of the art in research on, and the practice of, international design law. Combining cutting-edge research with a practical approach, it examines key trends and covers key cases, regional and national laws, as well as concepts of international design protection. In particular, the U.S. framework is compared with the regime of the EU, and issues relating to the Hague Agreement are also covered.

The present Guide is a detailed technical paper aimed at industrial property office examiners and users in general to assist them in identifying the correct database and using the possible functionalities and tools offered by specific databases. The current Guide examines a selection of commercial and non-commercial database services considered representative of the broader population of existing services in order to illustrate types and combinations of features available through these services.