Australia and New Zealand Intellectual Property Patents, Trade Marks, Copyright, Designs, Litigation Acacia Law: Intellectual Property experts in Australia and New Zealand © 2003-2011 Acacia Law Registered Designs: Designs protect the shape or configuration of an article. Designs can be registered in both Australia and New Zealand. A Design cannot be registered for a known shape or configuration (in other words, the design must be new). 3-dimensional shapes which are not new, might be protected by trade mark registration. Both Australia and New Zealand permit registration of 3- dimenational marks, but the shape must be sufficiently distinctive to enable registration. For more detail, please email us at website@acacialaw.com