Search results for: design

4 Intellectual Property Myths About Designs

There’s a lot to think about when launching a new product – co-ordinating manufacturers, finding stockists and of course marketing. Intellectual property is, perhaps understandably, not front of m...

Inadvertently Design-ed Priority Loophole

For a European design, the European General Court has ruled in T-579/19 it is possible to claim priority from an earlier filed patent, or at least from an international patent application filed under ...

Designs in the Automotive Sector – Putting you in the Driver’s Seat

Cars are excellent examples of assets that strongly benefit from all three types of registered intellectual property protection.  Patents are key to protecting technical innovations, while trade ...

Register Your Designs So They Can’t Be Recycled

A recent decision of the UK High Court illustrates reasons why it is often preferable to register your designs rather than relying on unregistered design protection alone. Rothy’s Inc, and subsequen...

China Laying the Groundwork to Join the Hague Agreement – And Other Designer-Friendly Changes Coming to the Asia-Pacific Region

Registered designs provide an invaluable mechanism for companies to protect the appearance of their products in countries around the world.  A few notable incoming changes to design law in China,...

Gold Standard Registered Design Protection

Companies spend a significant amount of time, effort and investment considering how their products look to the consumer.  Rightly there is then a desire to provide protection from copycats and ot...

How to Protect Your Designs Post Brexit

The UK’s transitional arrangement with the EU in the wake of its formal exit finally came to an end on 31st December 2020.  Companies who have previously relied on registered and unregistered E...

Designs in the Medtech Sector – Are High Filings a Result of Coronavirus or Part of an On-Going Trend?

At the time of writing, the number of registered designs filed and published at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in 2020 relating to equipment for doctors, hospitals and laborat...

Is the Hague System Underused by Design Applicants?

The latest Hague Yearly Review [1] of industrial designs filed under the Hague system shows that the number of international applications filed in 2019 increased by 8% compared to 2018.  However,...

Copyright for Functional Designs: a Bicycle Framework

Create an artistic work and you get 70+ years of protection against unauthorised copying of the work.  On the other hand, if you create a product that is not artistic, then you are left with up t...