What Are Design Rights and Why Do I Need Them in England?

Design rights will be a vital protection method if you are a business in England specialising in products. Design rights can be both unregistered and registered in England. However, it is more beneficial to you and your business if you register them. In this article, we will discuss how you can acquire design rights and how they work to protect your business. 

What Are Design Rights? 

Design rights are intellectual property rights that protect a product’s visual appearance. This includes its: 

• pattern;
• shape;
• packaging;
• texture;
• materials; and
• colours.

However, the design must be new and not commonplace in the industry.

In England, registering your design is not a legal requirement. Although, you can do this to gain more substantial control over your products and enhance their protection against competitors within your trade areas.

Protecting your Designs

Registering your design rights is mainly to protect them against competitors. Registration provides the designer with exclusive rights over production and distribution. Therefore, a competitor cannot reproduce your products innocently, as you will have legal recourse to challenge them. In addition, if your design is registered, you do not need to prove it is your own. Consequently, registering your design provides more robust protection against competitor businesses.

Design rights go far beyond just products. For example, if your business has an app, you can register the design rights of the app itself. This can include the aesthetics of the app and the display. As more businesses are developing apps to showcase their products or services, design rights can play an important role if your app becomes a central focus of your business. Some examples of businesses where the design and look of apps play an essential role are:

• Uber;
• McDonald’s;
• Amazon; and
• Nike.

Overlap With Copyright 

Copyright is a type of intellectual property that exists automatically upon creating a piece of creative work, including:

• images; 
• artwork; 
• photography; and 
• software coding. 

Consequently, there is often some overlap between copyright and design rights regarding what they can protect.

Benefits of Design Rights 

Once you are the owner of a design, in either registered or unregistered forms, you can sell the registration or license your rights to third parties to generate income without losing complete ownership. 

Another benefit of design rights is expanding your business based on a particular work. If a design is successful, you can protect and grow your business without worrying about competitors copying your work. Therefore, design rights act as a safeguarding mechanism that protects your specific products and reputation. Consequently, they can also assist your business in building consumer trust and expanding your brand.

Key Takeaways

In England, design rights can exist in both unregistered and registered formats. However, we highly recommend registering them so you can protect your designs for longer. For example, a registered design right can exist for up to 25 years, whereas an unregistered design right can only exist for 15 years. Further, if a competitor attempts to copy your product, you will have to prove your design is your own if it is unregistered. 

If you need help or advice around registering your design, our experienced intellectual property lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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