EIP held a hugely successful seminar entitled ‘Registered Designs: Are You Missing Out?’ on 20 October 2011.
The seminar at the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys in London was set in the context of the recommendations of the Hargreaves Review into IP in May 2011. This review acknowledged that the role of IP in supporting design had been neglected and recommended that the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) should conduct an evidence-based assessment of the relationship between design rights and innovation. Recently the IPO issued a ‘Call for Evidence’ on Design which asks various questions on the use of design-related IP.
The speakers were the leaders of EIP’s Designs and Brands practice groups, Iain Russell and Alice Mastrovito, as well as two high-profile industry experts Richard Goddard of BP plc and Jim Dawton of Designit.
Iain Russell, head of EIP Designs, explained some of the features of registered designs and how they differ from unregistered rights. Iain discussed a number of thought-provoking examples of designs that have been registered to show how companies in the digital space are making use of the versatility of registered designs to protect many areas of their business and products.
Alice Mastrovito, head of EIP Brands, showed how brand owners are registering designs for brand-related properties such as logos, graphics and icons to complement, and, in some cases supplement, more traditional trademark registrations.
Richard Goddard, of BP plc, provided valuable insights into how BP uses registered designs to protect the appearance of products and the unique role which registered designs play in combating counterfeits.
Jim Dawton, partner at a leading design firm, Designit, gave an enthusiastic and informative presentation demonstrating the importance of design in terms of both brands and product development.
John Williams, non-executive director of EIP, chaired the event and led a lively question and answer session. EIP hosted a reception after the seminar to enable delegates to meet and to continue to debate the issues.
Iain Russell and Alice Mastrovito would like to thank Richard Goddard and Jim Dawton as well as everyone who attended the seminar for their contribution to a successful and enjoyable event.