Protecting Your Brand
Let’s face it, building your business is hard-work, and you want to protect your success. We are often asked about intellectual property and how businesses can protect their product and brand. Are they automatically entitled to protection? Do we retain the rights? Can they change their design? There is so much to consider but it doesn’t need to be complicated.
Over the years, we have received wonderful support from the British Library’s Business and IP Centre, in addition to our legal eagle friends. We would always advise our clients to seek professional advice for their business’ intellectual property but let’s take a look at the foundations!
Intellectual Property
Intellectual property law (within the United Kingdom) states that design right ensures automatic protection. This means any designs you create are protected for 10 years from the moment it was first sold or 15 years after its creation — whichever comes soonest! However, this automatic protection of unregistered designs only seeks to protect the form of expression of ideas not the ideas themselves. Moreover, similar designs may exist as long as they haven’t been copied.
Qualifying
To qualify, your design must be original and uncommon. This means the design must be your own work and not broadly recognised within a group of similar products. Be careful because there are some exemptions! For example, the IPO also states that 2D designs such as textile patterns, graphics, and wallpaper do not quality for automatic UK design right.
You can prove you created your design by leaving copies of your design drawings with your bank or solicitor; or mail them to yourself by registered, dated post and left unopened. These measures ensure clear-cut, indefinite proof of your ownership.
We are often asked about design ownership as generally, the person who created the design owns the intellectual property, however when the design is commissioned the commissioner will own the right unless otherwise stated.
At Buttercrumble, upon completion of the services and full payment of all fees and costs due, we grant the Client the exclusive, perpetual and worldwide right and license to use, reproduce and display the works solely in connection with the project as defined in the proposal. We clearly state the level of modification allowed to the design and every piece of work we produce is bespoke to the client. This is to guarantee peace of mind for everyone involved.
Registering Designs
If you require further protection, you could register your design. We recommend registering assets as trademarks. They are used to differentiate goods or services and can comprise of words, letters, colours and numbers (to name but a few)!
You can register processes and devices as a patent. This can be more expensive than seeking to protect as a trade secret but some innovations are too good to maintain as secrets. They can also be more challenging to register as the invention must be new, involve an inventive step, be capable of industrial application and is not specifically excluded from protection as a patent.
Simple!
When inventing or dreaming up new designs — there is no need to fear! By taking simple steps, and the advice of legal professionals, you can guarantee the protection of your design. Many designers appreciate and respect the needs of their clients and will work with you to ensure your vision is realised.
The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on www.buttercrumble.com is provided in good faith, however we make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability or completeness of any information on the Site. As we said before, always seek professional advice!
