Registered Designs

A design registration helps to protect the appearance of a product, such as its shape or pattern. Registering your design grants you a legal right which in itself proves the existence of the design, its date of creation and its ownership.

Patents generally protect technical aspects of how a product or process works. A registered design protects non-technical features of the appearance of a product.

“’Registered design’ and ‘Design patent’ are two terms are often used interchangeably. They are similar rights, used to protect the aesthetic appearance of a product, but they arise in different jurisdictions.

A ‘Design patent’ is a US right for protecting aesthetic appearance. These design patents are distinct from ‘utility patents’, which protect technical inventions. In the USA, the term ‘patent’ could therefore be considered a broad category of IP right that encompasses both utility patents and design patents.

In Europe and the UK, aesthetic designs are protected with ‘registered designs’. You might see this referred to as a ‘UK registered design’… In Europe and the UK, the term ‘patent’ is reserved only for technical inventions, so you won’t see the term ‘design patent’ under the EU or UK system.”1

Below are key details about the design registration process in the UK and the scope of protection the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) offers:

1. Eligibility Criteria

To register with the UKIPO your design:

1.  must be new and individual in character;
2. must not be purely functional in nature;
3. must not contain offensive materials or depictions of national flags, official emblems or hallmarks, without permission to use them; and
4. must not be a computer programme.

This means that the design must not have been published or made public before the date the design application was filled and must not be previously registered by another designer. The must go beyond the functionality i.e. any advantageous aspects of how the design works.

Design is understood to mean:

1. physical shape;
2. configuration(or how different parts of a design are arranged together);
3. decoration or colour; and/or
4. pattern.

2. Application process and cost

Applications are submitted online or via post to the UKIPO and consist of:

(a) Application form; and
(b) Detailed illustrations of the designs.

You can apply to register a design in the UK up to twelve months’ after the designer first discloses it and so can defer registration for up to twelve months’ from the date of application.

Registering a design costs from £50 for one design to £150 for up to 50 designs. Applicants should expect a decision on their applications within 3 weeks.

3. Scope and duration of protection

Registration gives you a potential 25 year monopoly for the design and the exclusive right to use, make, offer for sale, put on the market, import, export or stock articles made to the design.

A design registration lasts 5 years and must be renewed every 5 years to keep it protected – up to a maximum of 25 years.

The rightsholder can take legal action against any infringing use in the UK of the design or of a similar design which does not produce a different overall impression on the informed user.

The following are examples of infringements that are outside the scope of protection:

1. acts done privately, for non-commercial or experimental purposes;
2. fair reproduction for teaching purposes;
3. acts committed prior to registration in good faith;
4. repairs by replacing component parts; and/or
5. prior placing on the market by or with the owner’s consent.

Unregistered Designs

These are rights that protect your unregistered designs and stop others from using them without your permission. These rights take effect automatically and do not require any registration.

Below are key details about the scope of protection the UK Intellectual Property legal framework offers unregistered designs:

1. Eligibility criteria Only the shape and configuration (how the parts are arranged) of three dimensional designs are entitled to legal protection if unregistered. The law will not protect unregistered surface decorations or patterns. The design owner must be: A) an individual resident in a qualifying country; or
   B) a company or business formed in a qualifying country. A qualifying country is the UK or a territory under the reciprocal protection order which covers territories such as Hong Kong and New Zealand.
2. Scope and duration of protection Unregistered designs in the UK are protected by Intellectual Property law if the design is:
   1. three dimensional;
   2. concerns the shape or configuration of a product; and
   3. a new design that is not commonplace in the field.

Intellectual Property law will not protect:

(a) two dimensional surface patterns; or

(b) a method or principle of construction.

Protection lasts for the shorter of 15 years’ from the date the design was first created or 10 years’ from the date it was first sold.

The rightsholder can only take legal action against infringing use in the UK that amounts to copying or where someone who knows or reasonably should have known that an infringing article is in their possession, sells, hires or imports them.

Unregistered design rights are not legal rights and can only be enforced if there is evidence to show that it was:

(a) new and not common place in the field at the time of its creation; and (b) created by the person claiming to be the owner.

You must allow other people to use your design if they ask during the final 5 years of protection. This is known as a ‘licence of right’.

3. Supplementary unregistered design rights (Brexit)

These rights protect the appearance of a product and can only be invoked if you made your design public in the UK or the EU before 1 January 2021.

The appearance of a product is protected in the UK for 3 years from the date you make your design public.

The appearance of a product can be 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional and includes its:

(a) Shape;
(b) Colours;
(c) Texture;
(d) Materials; and

(e) Ornamentation.

Application to Packaging

The following are aspects of potential packaging that can be registered as a design:

1. Physical shape of the packaging;
2. Lines and contours;
3. Colours, patterns or decorations; and/or
4. Texture and/or ornamentation.

One or all of these elements can be protected as a registered design provided that the design is “novel”, i.e. no other identical design must exist, and possess “individual character” to the extent that the design produces a different overall impression on an ‘informed user’ to any other design available to the public.

As stated above, your design must not include:

(a) offensive material;
(b) use of national flags(without valid permission); (c) use of official emblems or hallmarks; or
(d) be wholly functional.

1. Pre-application steps Before making an application, it is advised to search the following design registers to check if anyone else has registered your design: (a) UK-registered designs. (b) EU Intellectual Property Office(EUIPO) (c)World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
2. Alternatively you can ask the Intellectual Property Office to search UK registered designs for you which costs £24.
3. Illustration rules To make your application you will need to prepare illustrations that show the design. You can include up to 12 illustrations and must meet the rules for illustrations. Your illustrations should:

show the design as it appears to the eye, using photographs, line drawings, computer-aided design (CAD) or rendered CAD;

be the same type of image(for example, all line drawings or all photographs); show the design against a plain background;

include the complete pattern and show how it repeats, if you want to register a surface pattern;

only include objects necessary to demonstrate your design (for example, do not include your hand, or an object unrelated to your design);

be clear (for example, if you use photographs they must be in focus); have no details hidden by shadows or reflections; and not contain text, measurements or other technical information.

If your
design unless you say otherwise.

illustrations include colour or tonal contrasts, these will be considered elements of your

You must show or explain:

1. which parts of an illustration you want to register as a design – this is called a ‘limitation’; and
2. the parts of an illustration you do not want to register as a design – this is called a ‘disclaimer.