|
|
|
FREE NOVELTY SEARCH
Find out if your invention is novel. Click on link above and use "advanced
search". |
UK Registered DesignsWhat is a “Design”? A “design” is defined as “the appearance of whole or part of a product resulting from features of, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture, or materials of the product or its ornamentation”. A “product” is defined as “any industrial or handicraft item other than a computer program,: and, in particular, includes packaging, get up, graphic symbols, typographic typefaces and parts intended to be assembled into a complex product”. A “complex product” means “a product which is composed of at least two replaceable component parts permitting disassembly and reassembly of the product”. Component parts of complex products are registrable providing that the part is visible during normal use of the complex product. Registrability To be registrable a design must be new and have individual character., and a design is new if no identical design or no design whose features differ only in immaterial details has been made available to the public A design is said to have individual character if the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced on such a user by any design that has been made available to the public before the relevant date. The relevant date is the date of filing the application or the date of filing of an earlier filed International convention application. It is no longer necessary to register the design in respect of a specific article because a Registered Design extends to all articles that incorporate the design. For example, the registered design could be applied to totally different articles. For example a design comprising ornamentation could be applied to photographic frames, curtains, baby products or furniture, but it would not be necessary to file separate applications to register the design for each different article. A single application can include an unlimited number of variations of the design, and there is a reduction in the costs for each additional design that is included in the application compared with the first design in the application.. Features that are dictated solely by function are not registrable. Furthermore, features of a product that enable the product to fit against another product (so called "must fit" and “must match” features) are not registrable. Disclosure of a design, whether with, or without, the will of the owner, in the 12 months preceding the date of filing of the application to register the design, will not invalidate the Registered Design. However, caution is advised in relying on this period of grace, because there may not be a similar period of grace in other countries. Registered designs filed before 1st August 1989 had a maximum life of 15 years so they expired on 1st August 2004. Under the present law, Registered Designs have a maximum life of 25 years providing that renewal fees are paid every five years. For further information please use our information request form |
NORTEL Sells patents for $2.8bn 25th July 2011- EPO to Push ahead with IPR Reforms
|
|
Central England Patent & Trademark Attorneys Limited a Company registered in England (No7930428) Chartered Patent Attorneys - European Patent Attorneys - British & European Trade Mark Attorneys © Central England Patent & Trade mark Attorneys Limited, 2012
|
