Lincoln office

01522 801111
LOVEN Patents & Trademarks
51 Wragby Road
Sudbrooke
LINCOLN
LN2 2QU
United Kingdom

Hull office

01482 236777
LOVEN Patents & Trademarks
Hesslewood Hall Business Centre
Ferriby Road,
Hessle
HULL, HU13 0LH
United Kingdom

Peterborough office

01733 889444
LOVEN Patents & Trademarks
Asset House
Thorpe Wood Business Park
26-28 Thorpe Wood
PETERBOROUGH, PE3 6SR
United Kingdom

Protect your designs

The appearance of your products can be vitally important to the success of your business.

Good designs do not come cheap, and it is vital that you protect your investment and make the most of your intellectual property.

Design registration is fairly cheap and quick. It provides you with the most valuable protection, alongside your patents and trademarks.

With LOVEN, you will be provided with the best possible advice on the best way to protect your designs. We can handles all the stages for you – from the preparation of formal representations of the designs, through to registration and enforcement of your rights, or licensing others to use your designs. Your business is in safe hands with us.

Our design services include:

Design Registration

In the UK, registration of designs requires appropriate representations of the design. While these can be photographs, care must be taken not to limit the scope of protection unduly. Proper design drawings can provide you with the best protection in many cases.  It is important to get the representations right at the outset, as this allows the final registration certificate to be obtained within a matter of weeks.

Want your designs protected across Europe?

The introduction of the European Community Design Regulation means it is now easier for you to seek prevention of the copying of your products in Europe. Under the Regulation, there is a Registered Community Design (“RCD”), which came into force on 1 April 2003.   The RCD grants protection for designs for up to 25 years, and enables the proprietor to sue those who market products which use the novel design features of the registered design.

Design Searches

Is your design new? Are you free to use it?

If someone else has registered a design, and you produce something which is similar in appearance to that registered design, you could be sued for infringement.

You will therefore need searches to determine whether similar designs have been registered, and professional advice on just what “similar” means in the circumstances.

With LOVEN, we can arrange for specialist searches to be carried out, and can advise on all aspects of design protection and infringement.  Please contact us for details on search costs and timescales.

Design Disputes

Some rights can arise in designs in the UK and the rest of Europe, even without registration.  While these rights are very restricted compared with those obtained by registration, they can be important where copying of a design has taken place, i.e. where the copy is essentially identical to the original.

It is important to take professional advice where someone accuses you of copying of their design, or where your products have been copied. LOVEN can provide that advice.

If you would like more information, or need any advice regarding your designs, please contact our team of professional attorneys at LOVEN. We are here to provide you with peace of mind.

Without an attorney to handle the complex legal and technical issues involved in obtaining good patent and trademark protection, you are very likely to end up with something too narrow in its scope and therefore easy to get round. Trying to save money on a patent or trademark application can prove to be costly down the line. Looking to protect your designs, brand or inventions the right way? Call us today:
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