Protection For GUIs Restricted To Specific Hardware Carriers In China

A recent court case in China has clarified the scope of protection afforded by registered designs for graphical user interfaces (GUIs). 

In recent years, intellectual property laws in various countries have been changed to extend the protection afforded by registered designs (which protect the appearance of products) to GUIs. This enables protection to be sought for the appearance of software on a display screen (e.g. in the form of icons, etc.), which is of increasing importance in the world of smartphones and tablets.

However, since this type of protection is a relatively recent right, there have been few decisions in the courts yet, in any country, to give an insight to the breadth of scope afforded to design protection for GUIs.