Protect Your Product: UK Registered Designs Explained

Learn How Registered Designs Protect a Business’s Creativity and Stop Theft by Competitors

Registered design rights in the United Kingdom offer a powerful and often underused form of intellectual property protection. With a UK registered design, you can protect what you have created and stop someone else copying it (and profiting from it).

Unlike trade marks, which safeguard brand identity, or patents, which protect technical inventions, registered designs are concerned solely with visual appearance.

They play a critical role in securing a product’s aesthetic features and can be essential in protecting market share, particularly in design-led industries.

What is a UK Registered Design?

A registered design legally protects the appearance of a product through registration.

The “appearance” can include an object’s shape, contours, surface texture, ornamentation, colours and materials. It can also protect the way the individual parts are arranged within the object as a whole.

A design might apply to the entire product or to just a part of it. For instance, the design could apply to the overall shape of a mobile phone or it could apply simply to the pattern printed on the phone’s rear panel.

Design registration grants the proprietor a monopoly right, meaning that enforcement does not require evidence of copying.

It is irrelevant whether the infringement occurred knowingly or independently. If a third party uses the registered design or one that creates a similar overall impression without permission, the rights holder can take legal action.

A design registration extends across the United Kingdom and allows the proprietor to stop others from making, selling, importing, exporting or using any product that incorporates the design.

Legal criteria for protection

To be eligible for registration in the UK, a design must satisfy two fundamental requirements:

1. Novelty – The design must be new at the time of application. It cannot be identical to any design already made available to the public.
2. Individual character – The design must produce a different overall impression on an ‘informed user’ compared to earlier designs.

These assessments are not conducted during the initial UKIPO examination. The UKIPO conducts only a formalities check. Novelty and individual character are instead tested if the design is challenged in cancellation or infringement proceedings.

An exception to ‘novelty’ can apply. A 12-month grace period allows the designer to file an application up to a year after first public disclosure. However, this grace period is not recognised in all jurisdictions, particularly outside the UK and EU. Applicants who intend to pursue international protection should avoid relying on it.

Exclusions from protection

Certain designs cannot be registered, even if they appear novel. These include:

• Designs dictated solely by their technical function. In other words, a design that is shaped in a certain way only because it needs to be for the product to function.
• Designs contrary to public policy or accepted principles of morality.
• Designs consisting of protected emblems, such as flags or coats of arms.
• Designs that fail to meet the definition of “design” under Section 1 of the Registered Designs Act (RDA).

Furthermore, designs must not be offensive or deceptive. Designs that add no aesthetic value, such as those purely functional in their appearance (e.g. a key shape determined solely by the mechanics of a lock), are not registrable.

Scope and term of protection

If granted, UK registered design rights can last for up to 25 years. Protection is structured in 5-year renewable terms and renewal fees must be paid at each interval.

The scope of protection extends to any competing design that does not produce a substantially different overall impression when comparing it to the registered design.

In practice, this gives a wide margin of enforcement and prevents minor variations from circumventing the design right.

Filing process and requirements

Applications for UK registered designs are submitted to the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO). A typical application includes:

• Representations (drawings or photographs) of the design
• Indication of the nature of the design or product
• Applicant’s name and entity type
• Any claim to priority if relying on earlier filings in other countries

In the UK a power of attorney is not required.

Multiple designs (up to 50 included within the scope of a single online design application) can be filed simultaneously and they do not need to fall within the same design classification under the ‘Locarno’ system.

Applicants may submit up to 12 visual representations per design. These can show different angles, details or variants. Care must be taken to ensure consistency and clarity across all images, as ambiguity may lead to invalidation or reduced enforceability.

Examination procedure

The process is usually quick.

The UKIPO typically completes formalities examinations for design applications within 2 to 4 weeks.

Whilst the UKIPO does not assess novelty or individual character, it does review whether the design:

• Meets the statutory definition of a design under Section 1 RDA
• Is dictated solely by technical function (Section 1C)
• Is offensive or contrary to public policy (Section 1D)
• Involves a protected emblem (Schedule A1 RDA)

If no formal objections arise, the design is registered and published. The certificate of registration is typically issued shortly thereafter.

Commercial advantages

Businesses often underestimate the commercial value of registered designs.

In practice, they provide:

• Exclusive rights over a product’s visual identity
• Stronger legal remedies in infringement cases
• Monetisable assets, which can be licensed or sold
• Market differentiation, preventing others from mimicking a product’s aesthetics
• Faster and broader protection than some trade marks, which undergo more scrutiny and take longer to register

Recognising their value as intangible business assets, many major UK banks increasingly accept registered designs as security for loans.

International and EU protection

Whilst UK registered design rights offer national protection, equivalent rights can be obtained at the European level through the Registered Community Design (RCD), which covers all EU member states.

Similarly, international design registration may be pursued under the Hague Agreement for broader global coverage.

When extending protection of a design outside the UK It is essential to file within six months of the first UK filing to benefit from the Paris Convention priority system. This enables foreign design applications to retain the same effective filing date as the UK application.

Enforcing rights and infringement

Infringement of a registered design occurs when a third party makes or uses a design that does not produce a substantially different impression on the informed user, even if they developed it independently. There is no requirement to prove copying.

Legal remedies for infringement include:

• Injunctions
• Damages or an account of profits
• Delivery up or destruction of infringing items

The strength of a registered design right lies in its clear legal presumption of ownership.

The registration certificate is often sufficient to initiate enforcement without needing to prove prior use or authorship.

Common pitfalls and practical considerations

• Disclosure before filing: Avoid public disclosure before filing unless relying on the grace period. Even then, disclosures outside the UK or EU can damage international protection prospects.
• Ambiguous representations: Poor-quality images or inconsistent views can reduce the enforceability of the design, to the point of completely undermining a case against a competitor.
• Functionality concerns: Ensure that the design features are aesthetic, not functional. Functional features belong in the realm of patent law.
• Multiple filings: Consider registering both the whole product and any commercially significant parts to widen enforcement options.

Could your business register its designs?

Registered design rights are a cost-effective and robust form of IP protection. They safeguard the visual identity of products in competitive markets where aesthetics influence purchasing decisions.

With a low threshold for registration, fast processing times and strong enforcement potential, UK registered designs should form a central part of any design-led company’s intellectual property strategy.

Whether protecting a piece of industrial equipment, consumer electronics, ornamental object, packaging or a surface decoration, securing registered design rights early and strategically can make the difference between market success and vulnerability to imitation.

If you would like to consider protecting your business assets through UK registered designs then contact SH&P today.