Following a period of several years in which the practice of the UK Designs Registry has made it difficult for owners of animated designs to adequately and effectively protect those designs in the UK, we are pleased to report that the Registry has now updated its practice in relation to such designs, adopting a more lenient and reasonable approach.
In many other jurisdictions around the world, including the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), it has been possible to protect an animated sequence (such as an animated graphical user interface) by filing individual frames of that sequence to depict how the animation progresses. However, over the last few years, the UK Designs Registry has taken a very narrow and restrictive approach to the registration of such animated sequences. In particular, the Registry was only willing to accept animated designs if all features of the animated sequence were visible in every frame filed. If the animation sequence introduced new elements during the sequence, the Registry took the view that the sequence comprised more than one design, and would require the applicant to either delete frames from the sequence, or alternatively to divide the sequence into separate designs. This resulted in registered design protection for animated sequences in the UK diverging from protection in other jurisdictions, increasing costs for applicants and introducing a degree of uncertainty into the scope of protection granted in the UK.
The UK Designs Registry has now taken these issues into account and updated its practice on the registration of animated sequences. The Registry has confirmed that the representations submitted in support of a registered design application must convey an overall impression that is clear to the Registry and to third parties, and that this overall impression must be for a single, unitary design, such that anyone inspecting the register can easily and unambiguously determine what that overall impression is. For static designs, this is generally straightforward.
However, for animated designs, difficulties can arise, especially where the last frame of the animation sequence differs substantially from the first frame. The new guidance of the Registry makes it clear that as much detail as possible should be provided about the progression of the animation, and that the frames filed should show clearly how the animation progresses. Equally, applicants can also use a disclaimer or description to provide additional information about the animation sequence, although if significant additional information is needed to understand the animation, the Registry is likely to raise objection to the application.
Accordingly, even if the animation sequence introduces new elements within the sequence, if the overall sequence makes it clear how those new elements appear, then the design should be acceptable. If, however, it is not clear how the animation sequence progresses, the Registry may well still take the view that the animation comprises more than one single design, and require the applicant to divide the application or to delete frames from the animation. Note also that if a disclaimer is added to the design after filing, and this disclaimer significantly alters the design, then the date of filing of the application may be modified by the Registry. Consequently, it is imperative to ensure that the design is clearly depicted at the time of filing of the design application, and that any necessary disclaimer is included within the application at that time, so as to avoid the loss of the original filing date.
Overall, the new Registry practice is a welcome step forward in protecting animated sequences via UK design registrations, and brings UK practice much closer to that of the EUIPO. In turn, it remains to be seen whether the UK Designs Registry will also allow applicants to file design applications for animated sequences via other file formats, such as video files, in order to reduce the reliance placed on filing individual frames of the animation, with the EUIPO accepting such alternate file formats from 1 July 2026 onwards. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how the new practice will be implemented by the UK Designs Registry moving forward.