The current design patent regime needs fundamental reform. After studying various international treaties and the European Regulation on Designs this paper proposes: designs be taken out of the Patent Law, governed by a sui generis law and subject to a lower protection standard; Designers be given a twelve-month grace period to test the market acceptance of their designs by putting them on the market; technical interfaces be excluded from the realm of design protection; ex officio examinations be limited to compliance of formal requirements; certain protection be given to unregistered designs; the so-called united design regime be deleted; the protection terms for registered and unregistered designs be differentiated.