What is a design?
A design refers to the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture or materials of the product or its ornamentation. In the United Kingdom designs can be protected by Design Registration.
Design registration gives the owner a monopoly on their product design. The right for a limited period to stop others from making, using or selling a product to which the design has been applied, or in which it has been incorporated, without their permission and is additional to any design right or copyright protection that may exist automatically in the design.
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The design of a product can be part of the branding stategy of a company and can become an asset with a monetary value. In the UK a registered design gives the the right to take legal action against anyone infringing the design and to claim damages.
Design registration also brings the exclusive right to make, offer, put on the market import, export, use or stock any product to which the design has been applied, or to let others use the design under terms agreed with the registered owner.
How do I search to see if my design is new?
In the UK, hardcopy records for non textile registered designs, prior to January 91 and for textile designs prior to August 89 are available from the National Archives at Kew. If you know the registration number, and possibly the material class and date of manufacture, you should be able to find the relevant details.
More recent hardcopy records of registered designs are held by the Designs Registry at The UK Intellectual Property Office. If you are able to provide a design registration number, details can be provided for a fee.
The UK Intellectual Property Office website also provides an Images Search Service, and for searching by design number, a Register, both of which are available free on the internet. The Images Search Service includes all registered designs in force at 1st June 1997 and those registered since, plus basic registration details.
Try this factsheet from COBRA.
bif 249 How to Register and Protect Your Product Designs
COBRA (Complete Business Reference Adviser) can be accessed for free from any PC within the library network and library members can also access this resource from home by entering the first 10 characters of their library card into the login box.
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