The UK government published its response to the call for views on reviewing the designs framework in the UK on 12 July 2022. In short, nothing is going to change yet… but further reviews are planned of several issues identified by users. The government received 57 responses in total, comprising 5 from designers, 2 from design consultants, 2 from academics, 17 from legal firms and professionals, 7 from legal trade bodies and professional bodies, 10 from other trade bodies, 9 f

China has been steadily overhauling its IP system for well over a decade. Last week, in the latest development, China joined WIPO’s Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs bringing the total number of countries covered by the Hague System to 94. China is the largest market that remained outside of the Hague System until now. The EU, US and Japan are all already members and the system is increasingly popular: the number of designs applied for rose

The UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has launched a call for views on the designs system. It says this will “help us better understand how we can make the most of new opportunities and flexibilities now that we have left the EU, and how new and emerging technologies may impact the design system.” Call for views The call for views seeks evidence on three main areas: (1) new opportunities, (2) future frameworks and (3) better regulation. It runs for eight weeks, closing

Although EU law is no longer binding on the UK, in practice, the laws remain the same and what happens in the EU courts will continue to have a bearing on UK practice for some time to come. That means that we still need to keep up to date with the latest decisions of the European Court of Justice and the EU General Court. The General Court is a particular hotbed of IP activity as it considers a large number of appeals from EUIPO concerning EU trade marks and registered Commun

In the United Kingdom it is not a requirement for a trade mark or design licence to be registered at the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), so why bother? If a licence is not registered, any rights held by a licensee are ineffective against any third party to whom the licensor’s rights are later assigned to provided that the third party is ignorant or unaware of the licence. This means the third party takes free from the licence and can ultimately prevent the licensee f