Design rights protection

A Registered Design is a monopoly right for the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture or materials of the product or its ornamentation.

Essentially, and as opposed to a patent, a design relates to the appearance of a product rather than to technical principles of its construction or operation. However, the design does not need to have any particularly attractive aesthetic qualities and can protect the shape of almost any article or part.

For a design to be registered, it must be new (and further have an individual character). In the UK and European Community, there is a 12-month grace period from the disclosure of your design in which period an application for registration may be filed. The disclosure, however, may only be made in association with the designer and may prevent registering the design in foreign countries. It is therefore advisable you do not disclose your design before filing an application for registration.

A Registered Design grants you exclusive rights to make, sell, import, export, use or stock any product to which the design has been applied or is incorporated.

As the owner of a Registered Design, you also have the right to take legal action against others who might be infringing the design and, amongst other remedies, prevent further infringement or claim damages. The mere existence of a Registered Design can sometimes be enough to deter a potential infringer.

In some cases, you may want to agree terms with someone to allow them to use your Registered Design.

Dolleymores can advise a variety of filing programmes, but this will depend on your requirements. Please contact a member of our designs team who can provide tailored advice and help you devise the most appropriate and cost-effective filing programme for your specific requirements.

Once a valid Certificate of Registration has been issued, all products made to your design may be marked to indicate that registration has taken place. This marking need only comprise the unique design registration number that will be detailed on the Certificate of Registration.

The registration runs for 25 years from the application date but must be renewed every 5 years by paying renewal fees.

The application will undergo a limited examination process, but no searching of earlier designs is carried out. If no objections are raised and all formal matters are completed on filing, the registration can occur within days of the filing date.