Major reform of the UK's system for design protection announced

The UK Government has today published its long-awaited response to the consultation on reforming the UK designs framework, signalling the most significant update to the UK's design protection regime in many years.

The consultation attracted responses from a broad range of stakeholders, including major companies, professional bodies and international organisations such as the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). 

The Government has confirmed that it intends to proceed with a package of targeted reforms aimed at modernising the UK designs system while preserving its well-regarded speed and cost-effectiveness. Key proposals include:

• Introducing targeted search and examination powers to enable the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) to identify and prevent the registration of designs that may not belong to the applicant, addressing concerns about anti-competitive and bad-faith filings. 
• Modernising the registered designs regime to provide clearer protection for graphical user interfaces (GUIs), digital designs, animations and transitions. 
• Extending the statutory deferment period to 30 months, bringing the UK into closer alignment with the EU design system and the Hague international design system. 
• Allowing supplementary unregistered designs to arise following disclosure anywhere in the world, addressing a significant post-Brexit concern for rights holders. 
• Exploring wider access to enforcement by considering the inclusion of registered design disputes within the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court Small Claims Track. 

Notably, the Government has decided not to proceed with proposals for formal third-party observations or opposition procedures. Instead, it intends to give further consideration to the development of a streamlined and potentially lower-cost invalidation mechanism to challenge problematic registrations. 

The response also confirms that the Government will continue to examine longer-term issues, including the treatment of computer-generated designs and potential simplification of the UK's complex unregistered design framework. 

While primary legislation and detailed implementation measures will need to be developed before these reforms take effect, the direction of travel is now clear. The Government has sought to strike a balance between maintaining the speed and accessibility of the current system and improving the quality, certainty and enforceability of design rights. For designers, brand owners and other serious users of the UK design system, the overall package is likely to be welcomed as a positive and pragmatic step forward. 

We were pleased to see Matthijs commentary included in the Law Society Gazette's coverage of this story here.