Best & Swift IP Services

Various aspects of the appearance (for example, the colour, shape or materials) of an article or product are protectable. There are two principle types of protection; Design Right and Registered Designs. They have some similarities but also several differences. Design Right is an automatic right (similar to Copyright), in that it does not need to be registered, and can be effective in the UK and/or the EU.

A Registered Design, on the other hand, must be registered at the central intellectual property offices in the country of interest.

At Best & Swift IP Services, we help our clients protect their product designs throughout the world, either with or without patent protection. We have experience in relation to all aspects of design protection and enforcement. Our experience is that registered design protection is a particularly useful defence against counterfeiters.

The scope of what is protectable is very broad covering virtual products such as icons and logos, visible component parts and functional designs so long as the design is not solely dictated by a product’s technical function.

We have advised our clients on design matters across a substantial range of different fields in recent years, including: ceramic products and patterns, building and construction products, logos, packaging, medical devices, tools, food packaging, vehicles and vehicle parts, garden products, DIY products, fashion clothing, sports clothing, footwear, perfume containers and bottles, street furniture, ornaments and decorative products, household products and jewellery.

We specialise in:

Obtaining design protection internationally
Managing global design portfolios
Advising on design infringement, third party conflicts and counterfeit products
Design assessment, clearance and auditing
Design assignments and licensing
Design watching services
Ownership provisions in contracts for the supply of design services
Worldwide design law