The extent to which firms engage in technological innovation has received widespread attention in the last decades, as unique technologies result in superior value creation at the firm level. More recently, a number of scholars pointed at the distinctive role of design rights as design-driven strategies might equally result in unique and valuable assets. While the premium of patent protection on firm market value has been well documented, the extent to which and under which circumstances design protection also translate in market valuation has received little attention. In this study, we examine both what drives propensity to apply for design protection and whether it pays off for firms to (additionally) consider design rights in their IP portfolios. We rely on a consolidated panel data set (2000-2014) of stock-listed firms, situated in nine manufacturing industries (Automotive, Chemical, Electrical, Engineering, Food, IT- Hardware, Pharmaceuticals, Textiles and Other Manufacturing). We expect the presence and impact (on firm value) of design rights to be more outspoken in mature industries, as well as in industries focusing on end-consumers. While our intuitions hold for the propensity to apply for design rights, we neither observe a positive premium for mature industries nor for customer industries (on average). Only in high tech consumer oriented industries a premium in terms of firm value is becoming (consistently) visible. As such, our findings inspire to rethink the distinctive role of design rights and their antecedents, especially in terms of value appropriation dynamics. We conclude by addressing limitations and by advancing suggestions that imply ample opportunities for future research.