Design disputes

What do design rights protect?

Design rights protect the appearance of the whole or part of a product/article in three-dimensional form and, in some cases, two-dimensional design features such as surface decoration and texture.

Design rights in the UK

The design rights currently available in the UK are as follows:

•
UK registered designs (including re-registered designs and re-registered international designs)
•
UK unregistered design right (also known as ‘design right’)
•
supplementary unregistered design right (SUD)

UK registered designs are governed by the Registered Designs Act 1949 (RDA 1949). Re-registered designs and re-registered international designs effectively operate in the same way as UK registered designs and are also governed by RDA 1949.

UK unregistered designs are governed by sections 213–264 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

SUDs are governed by Assimilated Regulation (EU) 6/2002 and amendments to the Community Design Regulations 2005, SI 2005/2339.

For further detail on the nature of the design rights available in the UK (and the differences between them), refer to: Design transactions and management—overview.

Impact of Brexit

The UK is no

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