The UK Patent Office is planning to change the rules for design registration and protection and this week launched a consultation on modernising the Registered Designs Act of 1949 and the Registered Designs Rules of 1995.

The proposed changes include:

  • Provision to apply for any number of new designs under one application. Currently, applicants are limited to one design per application, so this will have cost benefits.
  • Provision to delay the publication (and subsequent registration) of a design application for up to 12 months, to give applicants time to launch new products incorporating their designs onto the market. Currently, there is no statutory provision to delay publication once the application is in order to proceed.

The deadline for opinions is 7th October 2005.

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