The government has said it will legislate to give the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) powers to search and examine design applications to prevent bad actors registering designs that don’t belong to them
Responding to an IPO consultation on changes to the UK designs framework last week, the government said it will introduce an 18-month deferment period for design publication, and allow registered design cases to be heard in the small claims track of the intellectual property enterprise court.
Law Society president Brett Dixon, called for ‘further simplification’ of the rules around unregistered design rights and copyright, including AI derived works.
