Two types of design rights
With a design right you can protect the design, the external appearance, of your invention. Others are then not allowed to copy it. There are two types of design rights: unregistered and registered.
An unregistered design right arises automatically when you launch your product in the EU. Take a new coffee machine you've developed. From launch, you're protected for three years against anyone who deliberately copies your design. You don't have to do anything except bring it to market in the EU. Easy. Or is it?
A registered design right takes a filing. With a design attorney, you submit an application with drawings that clearly show what makes your coffee machine distinctive. Once you've been through that process, a registered right gives you better options than an unregistered one in almost every case. Act early, and you'll reap the benefits later.
Why a registered design right is worth it
Three years of free protection may sound more appealing than spending time and money on an application. I'd still recommend registering, and thinking it through before your product launches. Here's why.
First, three years isn't long. But the bigger drawback is proof. With an unregistered right, you have to show that a copy was actually derived from your design. That's hard. Another designer may have had the same idea and landed on a similar look by coincidence. Even when someone has deliberately copied you, you still have to prove it in court.
A registered design right removes that problem. Coincidence or not, the rights are yours. Someone else can still come up with the same design, but you don't have to prove they were inspired by you. If they came up with it after you did, that's their bad luck.
A registered design right also lasts longer. It runs for five years and can be renewed four times, up to 25 years in total.
The law on your side
Design rights cover the appearance of all kinds of consumer goods: garden furniture, hand blenders, wireless headphones, chargers. The sort of thing sold on Amazon by countless suppliers.
With a registered right, it's far easier to approach a platform like Amazon. You send the images from your registration, and it's immediately clear that the supplier selling a copy of your coffee machine doesn't have the law behind them. You do.
Online shops don't want to get caught up in infringement disputes, so they simply check who holds the design right. The supplier without one usually loses out.
Make a deliberate choice
In almost every case, a registered design right is the better option. The fashion industry is the main exception. With large collections and short product lifespans, unregistered rights make sense there. For most other products, they don't.
Whatever you decide, decide deliberately. You can still apply for a design right up to a year after launch, unless someone else has beaten you to it. So work out your strategy in advance and avoid nasty surprises.
If you would like more information about design rights and what kind of protection would be best for you, please feel free to contact us for a no-obligation consultation. You can also do the design check on our website to see whether your design can be protected by a design right.
