Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
UK Design Right ("Unregistered Designs") (:black_flag:…
UK Design Right ("Unregistered Designs")
:check: Includes
Shape
of all
or part of
an object
can be microscopic
"visual impression" and "appearance" are not an issue
Dimensions of contact lens
excluded for other reasons
"UDR extends beyond the visually appreciable"
Configuration
(internal or external) of all
or part of
an object
Circuit diagrams
#
Some form of arrangement of elements, e.g. hot water bottle ribbing
"the relative arrangement of parts or elements of an article" e.g. components of a medi-kit
Doilies
#
Paper cut-outs
#
Purely functional designs :explode: (contrast with RDA)
If feature's primary purpose is functional, this trumps the surface decoration exclusion
#
:red_cross: Excludes
Method or principle of construction
Surface decoration
"any modification of the surface...
...additive or subtractive"
Running through the article
Marble
Brighton rock
"a woven patern"
Can be 2D or 3D
#
"features of shape or configuration of an object...
...required to
cooperate with another article to perform the object's function
" (must fit)
e.g. spare parts
"points of fixture"
...
aesthetically dependent
upon another article of which the object
forms an integral part
(must match)
Protected symbols
National flags
Olympic symbols
Royal arms
"parts of parts"
trivial aspects
cropped features
Most two-dimensional features
Patchwork quilt
Not considered a "shape" or a "configuration"
Articles coloured in a novel way
Patterns
Originality
A design is not
original
if it is commonplace
in the relevant field within a qualifying country
#
Very low threshold
Not a copy and not commonplace
Design right will only subsist in an original design
"Qualifying person" :silhouette:
A design right can only be conferred to a
qualifying person
habitual resident of...
government of...
...a qualifying country
#
business formed and having substantial activity in...
Does not exist
until the design has been recorded
(i.e. as a document or object)
:black_flag: Qualifying countries
UK
Channel Islands
Isle of Man
EU member states
No absolute novelty
UK protectorates
New Zealand
Hong Kong
Designer
Person who creates the design; or
for computer designs, person who makes the arrangements to give rise to the design
Ownership
#
Normal situation
The qualifying designer
Designed by employee in course of employment
Qualifying employer
if employer does
not
qualify, right does
not
go to employee
#
Computer generated designs
The qualifying person making arrangements necessary to give rise to the design
Commissioned works
Stays with author (normal situation) until assigned (to a qualifying person)
First marketing in a qualifying country
Qualifying person with exclusive marketing authorisation
Authorisation
must
be given by the person who would have had the right if they qualified
Must be first to bring to market in a qualifying country
must actually do so in a qualifying country
Example: a qualifying person may be exclusively authorised to market a US designed product within the EU and to actually do so in France, thereby obtaining a UK design right
Multiple designers
only qualifying designers get protection
analogous situation for joint employers and joint exclusive first marketers
Duration
Earliest of:
15 years
from the
end of the calendar year
in which the design was first
recorded
or an article was
first made
according to the design; and
10 years
from
end of the calendar year
in which an article made to the design was
sold
or
hired out
Licence of right
In the
last 5 years
of a design right,
anyone
may request a licence as of right
Preferably agreed between parties but can be settled by comptroller
Limits remedies and damages available for infringement in the last five years
Can be taken by infringer to avoid injunctions, delivery up, damages limited to double the retroactive licence fee for the duration of the infringement
Infringement
Primary infringement
Acting to...
...
exactly
or
substantially
copy the design to make articles or design documents without licence from the proprietor
Copying
immaterial whether intervening act constitutes an infringement
can be direct or indirect
Producing articles exactly or substantially to the design
Authorising another to...
Secondary infringement
Importing
Keeping
Selling
...without a licence...
...an article they know
or have reason to believe
is an infringing article
Hiring out
Offer for sale or hire
Exhaustion
applies to articles sold within the EU with the proprietors consent
Even if a design right has expired, there is a presumption that an article made to the design was made while the design was in force, until proven otherwise (reversal of the BoP)
Exceptions
Private acts
Education
Experimental