Information: Designs

20 Aug 2005

There are three ways in which product designs are protected in the UK:

	features of the appearance of the whole or part of a product such as lines, contours, colours, shape, texture, materials or its ornamentation can be registered as registered Community or national registered designs provided they are new and have individual character;
	aspects of shape or appearance of the whole or part of an article may be protected automatically from copying by national unregistered design right;; and
	artwork for fabrics, wall coverings and other surface decoration which is not protected by national unregistered design right is protected in the UK by artistic copyright.

Other countries provide other forms of design protection. The USA, for instance, grants patents (known as design patents) for new, original and ornamental designs for articles of manufacture.

Further Information

British Design Innovation
Design Council
DTI - Intellectual Property
>Designs Resources
Patent Office
>Designs Registry
University of Huddersfield
>School of Art and Design