| Designs |
Registered Designs The Registered Designs Act 1949, as substantially amended by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 provides for protection of visually appealing ("aesthetic") new designs in the United Kingdom for up to 25 years. In some countries the "aesthetic" requirement is not necessary and purely functional designs can be registered. Generally it is necessary to apply for Registered Design protection nationally. However, in those countries which are party to the Hague Agreement, which include some Member States of the European Union (but not the UK), it is possible to deposit a single application at WIPO to claim protection in designated Hague Agreement contracting States. A new Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement was adopted in July 1999, which was initially signed by 42 States, including the UK, the USA and the European Community. The Geneva Act provides for national examination of Hague Agreement applications, in countries where protection is contingent on such examination. The Geneva Act will come into force whenever 6 signatories have formally ratified it. It is not yet in force in the UK. The European Union itself has also adopted a number of measures to harmonise Design Protection in the Member States and introduce a unitary Community Design. Directive 98/71/EC requires Member States to harmonise their national rules for granting registration and sets the common maximum term of protection at 25 years subject to renewal at 5 year intervals. This Directive has been implemented into UK law with effect from 9 December, 2001. As a consequence, the law relating to UK Registered Design protection is changed significantly. There are a number of fundamental changes in the way designs are protected. In summary, the main changes are: (1) a registered design is now protected when applied to any article and not merely a specified article; (2) protection is available for individual artistic designs, with no requirement for "industrial application" of the design; (3) designs for parts of articles are protectable, if visible in use - previously only complete articles made to a design could be protected; (4) novelty is now judged against world-wide prior designs not just designs known in the UK; (5) there is a test for "individual character" - to be registrable a design needs to appear sufficiently different in the eyes of an "informed user"; and (6) there is a 12 month "grace period" during which disclosures made by the designer do not count as novelty-destroying. There are also changes affecting the renewal dates of Design Registrations, which will in future be calculated from the UK filing date rather than the earlier priority date (if any). The UK Designs Registry has published some initial guidance in the form of Registry FAQ`s regarding changes following implementation. Community Design A revised proposal for a Regulation on the European Community Design was presented by the European Commission on 21 June, 1999. The Commission announced that the EU Council of Ministers finally approved a much amended version on 12 December, 2001. This Regulation will establish a system for Community Design registration based on a single application for the whole community. The registration system will be administered by the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM), based in Alicante, which already administers the Community Trade Mark system. The Regulation will also establish a system of Unregistered Community Design protection, similar to the UK's Unregistered Design Right. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT CONFIDENTIALITY SHOULD BE MAINTAINED UNTIL AN APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION IS FILED WITH THE PATENT OFFICE (DESIGNS REGISTRY), BECAUSE OTHER COUNTRIES OUTSIDE THE EU DO NOT ALL RECOGNISE A GRACE PERIOD AND SO PROTECTION IN SUCH COUNTRIES MAY NOT BE POSSIBLE IF THE DESIGN IS PUBLICLY DISCLOSED BEFORE AN APPLICATION IS FILED
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