Venner Shipley on Designs & Copyright

Industrial designs can be protected with a range of intellectual property rights, including registered designs, unregistered design rights and, in some circumstances, copyright.

Experience

Our attorneys regularly file and prosecute applications for registered designs. We also advise on unregistered design rights and copyright, rights which are relevant to all manner of products and which do not need to be applied for. Our specialist team also provides advice on the potential infringement of registered or unregistered design rights and/or copyright by our clients or by third parties.

Expertise

Our European design attorneys practise before the European Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) in connection with registered Community designs. Our attorneys also act before the UK Intellectual Property Office and the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). We also work with a network of international experts to obtain design protection worldwide.

Our clients include individual designers, design consultancies and design groups in large industrial companies, as well as software houses and individual software developers. Our attorneys have the expertise to advise clients on how to protect their industrial designs, relying on combinations of IP rights to meet their specific needs and budget.