Industrial Design Database

There’s now an industrial design database on the Canadian Intellectual Property Office website. The database goes back to 1861, seemingly, and contains all the designs registered, and so protected, under the Industrial Design Act. Industrial design protection is something like a copyright, but flowing out of the shape of an object rather than, say, a writing or a work of art; the definition section says it better:

“design” or “industrial design” means features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament and any combination of those features that, in a finished article, appeal to and are judged solely by the eye;

The nifty thing is that a search throws up a set of drawings that, well, appeal to the eye. Here’s a row of thumbnails for a search for “bicycle,” revealing as well that even a government database has the power to surprise:

[via Atlanteknology]