Design Patents

Have you ever noticed that all products – even very similar ones like bottles, smartphones, and jewellery – come in slightly different shapes and sizes? These subtle variations are of course intended to make sure a design is unique, but they can also make sure that this uniqueness is preserved legally within the United Kingdom. There are two main ways to do this: design right and design registration.

UK design regulations and intellectual property rights are slightly different from those in the US or elsewhere in Europe. This is because all designs in the UK come with an automatic design right that protects all designs for 15 years after creation or 10 years after initial sale, depending on which happens sooner. The idea behind this design right is to give all ideas basic protection from being copied by others without the need to register, but it only applies to the basic shape, outline, and configuration of three-dimensional designs. Two-dimensional designs, like graphic designs and textiles, are not protected by the basic UK design right, meaning they have to be registered as designs for copyright protection.

Design right may be automatic and free, but it requires more than just somebody’s word to win a case. To prove your design right in a court dispute, you must present it to the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), the regulatory body for all design copyright issues in the United Kingdom. This usually involves having a lawyer keeping signed and dated copies of design sketches or photographs. We recommend you seek legal advice and guidance for this.

Design right may apply automatically, but it doesn’t offer complete protection for your design idea. Firstly, it only applies to the shape of your object and the configuration of it – meaning the way in which different elements of the design are assembled, spaced out, and arranged. Your design needs to be three-dimensional and, as we mentioned earlier, you must be able to prove it. If you can do so, you’ll stop other designers from being able to copy your idea. However, design right only lasts for 10 years after your first sale, or 15 years after your initial design was created, and for the last 5 years of your design right validity, you must grant a license of right to any designer who requests one for your design concept.

Design right is useful for protecting your design, but it does have its limitations. If you want to add extra protection to your ideas, you’ll need to register a design with the Intellectual Property Office. Design registration offers longer, more in-depth protection for your design idea under intellectual property legislation in the United Kingdom. But how do you actually register a design? There are a number of key steps you’ll need to take before you can consider your newest design a protected intellectual property. Below, we’ll guide you through the things to look out for when it comes to design registration.

It might sound silly, but the first thing to do before applying to register a design is to check that your design meets the necessary criteria. The IPO considers a design to be the ‘look of a product’, and this covers four basic factors:

• Appearance: the appearance of your design is merely an overarching term for how it looks generally. This may include a crossover with any of the other design factors listed below.

• Physical shape: a design’s shape relates to the contours of the design edges, the relative proportions of different sections of the design, and general facts, like the height, width, and breadth of a design.

• Configuration: the configuration is a neat term for the way in which different elements within a design are arranged and laid out as one.

• Decoration: the final factor in design registration relates to the style and choice of patterns, colours, symbols, shapes, logos, and other attractive features that make a design stand out from the crowd.

Registering a design will protect any number of the aforementioned aspects of your design. So, if you’ve designed a new water bottle, you could opt for a design registration that protects the decoration of the bottle, or the decoration and physical shape, or all factors combined.

There are two ways to register your design: online or via post. It’s cheaper and easier to apply online, so the IPO encourages you to do so. You’ll need to complete a standard application form, attach all prepared illustrations, and include a fee sheet for the correct fee you’re paying. The price for design registration is as follows:

If you want to pause your registration and defer it to a later date, then you can request this for a period of up to one year in your application. This can be useful if you still need time to develop your product for the marketplace, but any deferred design must be registered within one year at an additional cost of £40. To keep your design registration valid, you’ll need to renew it a minimum of once every five years. Renewal should take place a maximum of six months before the fifth anniversary of your original registration (or last renewal). Failure to meet this will result in increased charges for ‘late renewals’. Renewals become increasingly more expensive over time, starting at just £70 for your first renewal but rising to £140 for your fourth one. Full details on renewal costs and penalties for late renewals can be found here.