Respect other people’s designs

If you make, sell, import or use articles that infringe someone else’s design right or registered design it can cause great damage to your business.It may result in legal action being taken against you and you could be ordered to pay considerable costs and damages to the person whose designs you’ve infringed – even if you haven’t intentionally copied them.

It is good business sense to check that any design you intend to use as part of your business doesn’t already belong to someone else.

Carrying out a search

To find out whether a design is registered in the UK search the design database on the Patent Office website. You can also use this if you want to find out who owns a design registration if you want to negotiate to buy or lease it.

Even if a design isn’t registered it could still hold design right and you could end up in court if you infringe it intentionally. See the page in this guide on what is design right?

In some cases it may be appropriate to get an expert to conduct a more in-depth search. Find a patent agent on the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents website. Find a trade mark attorney on the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys website.