Design means the appearance or ‘look’ of products and there are two types of legal protection:

1. a registered design is where designs are examined and registered by the IPO or other international IP bodies;
2. an unregistered design right arises automatically but offers less protection.

1. Registered design:

A design must be new and have something special or unique about it in order to be registered. Registered designs only protect the outside appearance of a product, not how it was invented or how it works (which can be protected by a patent). Registering the design allows a business to gain a marketing advantage by preventing other companies from using it without their permission. You cannot register an idea or concept, so the application must include images of the product or the packaging.

Some products can’t be registered. For example, if the product has to be a certain shape in order to work, this cannot be registered as a design. A registered design needs to be just about appearance.

Designs which are immoral or illegal, or contain a protected emblem such as the Royal crown, cannot be registered.

There are fees for registering a design, normally around £50 for one design registered online or around £70 for up to ten designs, and the process takes around four weeks providing a design meets the above criteria. More information on registration and fees can be found here.

Please see here for more information on design rights.

2. Unregistered design right:

Design rights which arise automatically do exist in the UK and in Europe but they do not offer much protection and can be difficult to enforce, so it is advisable to register designs if possible.

Next up: Patents