Design
This has become an increasingly important weapon in the protection of our clients' businesses. A design is mainly the shape of an article, think of your mobile phone, someone designed that shape and his or her employer doesn't want that shape stolen by a competitor or counterfeiter. Don't just think of mobiles, think of shapes generally, from packaging to furniture to the shape of a building; the list is endless.
But designs are not only the shape of an article, they can now also apply to logos, computer graphics or any other design which is appealing to the eye. The badge on a football shirt, for example the Arsenal insignia, which was rotated 180" a few years ago, whilst being a trade mark is also a registered design. There are benefits and drawbacks to both.
A design can be the whole article or merely a part of that article, depending what is novel and has what is called individual character; don't you just love legal speak! These two tests are judged by, what has been previously made available to the general public.
There are registerable designs, granting the owner infringement rights and there are unregistered designs. We call these unregistered design rights; these are like a copyright. We can help with both.
BlackPointe Consulting advises frequently on the protection of designs and on related copyright issues. We handle the filing and prosecution of Registered Design applications in the UK, the European Community and other overseas territories. We also advise in relation to the rights applicable to unregistered designs in the European Community and the UK.
We can:
- Search your design to see if the design is novel.
- We can register your design.
- We can enforce those rights by appropriate legal actions.
