Intellectual Property and Patent & Trade Mark Protection

Intellectual Property and Patent & Trade Mark Protection

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  • Michael Horak
    Michael Horak    Premium Member   Group moderator
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    Design-Research
    Hi,

    it is not possible to perform professional researches of designs since the possibility of unregistered designs ...


    MfG Michael Horak, LL.M.
    Rechtsanwalt, Dipl.-Ing.
    http://www.iprecht.de
    • 01 Apr 2007, 10:01 pm
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  • Michael Horak
    Michael Horak    Premium Member   Group moderator
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    Re^2: Design-Research
    Hi,

    in fact, professional ip right scan are available. However, in particular design research results are neither secure nor complete. Furthermore unregistered design rights are protected similiar to registered designs, see Art 10 GGM.

    Rgds. Michael Horak, LL.M.
    Attorney at law, Dipl.-Ing.
    http://www.iprecht.com
    • 04 Apr 2007, 09:51 am
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    Michael Deans
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    Re^2: Design-Research
    In the United Kingdom, Unregistered Design Rights last for 10 years from the year of first marketing or 15 years from the date the design was created, whichever ends first, and not just 3 years as for Unregistered Community Designs

    Few Designs are still important and have not been modified (to creat a new Design Right) 10 years after first marketing.

    The only snag with relying just on Unregistered Design Right in the UK is that you have to show actual copying (which usually requires opportunity and motive) rather than just that the alleged infringement is similar.

    The vacuum cleaner manufacturer Dyson won a major Unregistered Design Right case in the UK in the past year or so to stop supply of spare parts that exactly matched Dyson's original parts.

    Regards
    Michael Deans
    • 07 Apr 2007, 8:16 pm
  • Jane Lambert
    Jane Lambert    Group moderator
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    Re^3: Design-Research
    This raises a very interesting topic and one to which I should like to add a few thoughts.

    Design in everyday speech connotes two concepts - the appearance of a product as pleasing to the senses as in "designer jeans" or "designer sunglasses" and the shape or configuration of an article as in the design of an engine. Most countries protect only the former. We in the UK protect both and the instrument by which we protect functional design is "unregistered design right."

    Unregistered design right is a relatively new intellectual property right and so far as I can see it s almost unique to the UK. For those of you who are interested in this law I have written a series of articles (sadly in need of updating) on my information website IP/IT Update. I have explained the ways in which designs are protected at http://www.ipit-update.com/design.htm and the lead article on design rights is at http://www.ipit-update.com/udr.htm.

    Unregistered design right differs from unregistered Community design in several respects:

    (1) "novelty" and "individual character" are not required, only "originality";
    (2) there is a qualification requirement as in copyright which effectively excludes US, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Korean and Russian designs from protection;
    (3) surface decoration is excluded from protection;
    (4) licences are available as of right to anyone in the world as of right, including infringers, for the last 5 years of the 10 year term.

    This right protects a lot of designs that would be protected by utility models in other countries. The government of the day considered introducing or rather restoring utility models here but rejected such a system as expensive and bureaucratic.
    • 14 Jul 2007, 01:57 am