UK: Designs For Life - An Essential Overview Of Design Protection, Enforcement And Exploitation

Designers are creative people - they are often the faceless masterminds behind products or ideas of tremendous value. But how does a designer protect their own brand value and create a 'design for life'?

We have produced practical, easy-to-read guides, as well as podcasts and videos with industry experts, to offer designers tips on how to protect their ideas in today's market and create brand value.

Designs for Life: a practical, end-to-end guide to designs

We have created an essential guide to design law. Made for designers, the guide explores the key considerations in the design, protection and enforcement process.

In this three-part series, we journey through the process of design, from inception to exploitation and enforcement, considering the steps from the point-of-view of the designer and design-led business. This is not a dry trawl through the case-law but a practical, end-to-end guide to designs, put together by our Design team.

The following links will take you to the articles online:

Part I: Design stage examines the development of the design concept, including the critical factors for ensuring that protection is maximised from the outset.

Part II: Bringing the design to market looks at bringing the design to market, exploring the considerations in regards to manufacturing, distribution, and protection. It is a fact of life that if a design is successful, it is likely to be copied or used as a "source of inspiration". Strategies on how best to deal with infringers will also be examined.

Part III: Exploitation, common problems and extended protection looks at ways to exploit designs to maximise the return on investment, including licensing, licences of right, ways to extend protection, and common problems that design owners encounter in the design field.

You can also download our Designs for Life handbook or, to receive a free hardcopy, contact John Coldham.

Making the most of designs

Our Design team hosted a London Design Festival event alongside three of Britain's leading designers: Richard Joseph (Joseph Joseph), Martin Darbyshire (tangerine) and Rob Law (Trunki).

Following the event, John Coldham discussed 'making the most of designs' with the three speakers. Listen to podcasts of these interviews here:

Richard Joseph, Co-Founder, Joseph Joseph

Martin Darbyshire, Founder, tangerine

Rob Law, Founder of Trunki

The interviews were recorded in September 2015.

Protecting and exploiting design in the age of disruption

As part of London Design Festival, we hosted a Q&A event on the importance of protecting innovation with guest-speakers including Nikki Barton (Autotrader, Nokia, Microsoft), Matt Round (tangerine), Marion Gillet (Design Council) and Alex Smilansky (Mayku).

We produced a series of videos with the speakers, talking about protecting and exploiting design in the age of disruption. Watch the videos here:

Don't make the mistake of leaving IP behind - Matt Hervey

Protect your design, your way - Marion Gillet

Design protection in the digital world - Nikki Barton

The value of safeguarding innovation - Matt Round

Create a constant conversation - Alex Smilansky

The interviews were recorded in September 2016.

Feedback from designers on the Design for Life series and podcasts

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.