Registered Design Right Notes

REGISTERED DESIGN RIGHT Relevant legislation: Registered Design Act 1949 (RDA) IP RIGHTS AVAILABLE STEP 1: Introduction STATE: Under s1(2), a registered design right protects the appearance of the whole or part of a product resulting from features of, in particular, the lines, contours, shape, texture, materials of the product itself and its ornamentation. A product is defined under s1(3) as "any industrial or handicraft item other than a computer programme, and in particular, includes packaging, get up, graphic symbols, typographic type faces and parts intended to be assembled into a complex product". Under s1B(1), the design must be new and have individual character. WHY RIGHTS AVAILABLE? STEP 2: Is the design new? STATE: Under s1B(2), the design is new if no identical design or no design whose features differ only in immaterial details has been made available to the public before the relevant date.? Under s1B(5)-(7), the time at which the novelty test must be met is when the application to register is first filed. Under s1B(6)(a), the public is likely to mean the purchasing public and the business community throughout the EEA. Key question: Does any largely identical design already exist in the prior art in the sector concerned? STEP 3: Does the design have individual character? STATE: Under s1B(3), a design has individual character if the overall impression it produces on informed users differs from the overall impression produced on such a user by any design which has been made available to the public before the relevant date. An informed user is a person familiar with the designs used in the sector in question. Under s1B(4), it is important to consider the extent to which the designer has exercised their creative freedom. [STEP 3A: Where the design has been disclosed... STATE: Under s1B(5)-(6), there is a grace period of 12 months during which a designer may disclose the design to others without affecting the design's novelty, or the assessment of its individual character in an application for registration by the end of the 12 month period. Provided registration occurs within 12 months of this disclosure, the design will still attract the necessary individual character and novelty.] 

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