Dragons' Den - How easy would it actually be to copy the Glawning design?

I will admit I'm a bit late catching up on last week's episode of Dragons' Den. I've watched the show for years (usually as a double bill on a Thursday before The Apprentice) and since becoming an attorney, my ears always prick up when they start discussing IP protection. 

Over the last 18 months I've expanded my designs practice, so I was interested to hear the discussion around registered design protection for the Glawning product on last week's episode. In particular, the comment that one of the Dragons could “pick up the phone to China and have them in [their] warehouse in 12 weeks” caught my attention.

Whilst it is true that they could do this, whether this Dragon could get away with selling them is another matter. Glawning have a number of registered designs in the UK in relation to their campervan awning product and, whilst some of these are narrower in the sense that they are limited by the specific materials shown in the design images, the business does own a broader line drawing registration for the shape of the awning and tent. 

I haven't gone as far as to run a prior art search to fully assess the novelty of this design but, if we assume that it is novel, then the Dragon in question would likely face difficulties selling the identical product in the UK market given the existence of these design rights and indeed, a blog post from Glawning themselves indicates that they have had disputes with third parties trying to replicate their product. Glawning could also record their design rights with Border Force authorities by way of an AFA (Application For Action) to try to prevent the importation of infringing goods into the UK in the first place.

Design registrations can sometimes be overlooked in favour of patents or trade marks, but designs are often quicker and less costly to obtain (certainly compared to a patent). They can also be a useful weapon in the fight against copycat products - just take Marks & Spencer's victory against Aldi's copycat light-up gin bottle as an example. 

So to summarise, don't be put off by the apparent dismissal of design registrations by the Dragons (and according to Glawning, there was some off-camera debate on the topic that wasn't shown in the final edit). These rights can be incredibly valuable to businesses of all sizes when defending against competitors or lookalikes.

For more Dragon's Den insights, please see my colleague Stephen Hunt's article: IP - The secret weapon behind a winning pitch.