ARTICLE · 19 MARCH 2007

Intellectual Property And Sourcing from China

Rouse & Co. International

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A startling proportion of products sold in the UK are sourced from China. In today’s competitive market UK retailers are seeking to cut costs and sourcing directly from China is a common solution. In doing so, retailers need to take steps to avoid infringing their original supplier’s intellectual property rights ("IP rights").

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Rebecca Kaye

A startling proportion of products sold in the UK are sourced from China. In today’s competitive market UK retailers are seeking to cut costs and sourcing directly from China is a common solution. In doing so, retailers need to take steps to avoid infringing their original supplier’s intellectual property rights ("IP rights").

What IP rights might be relevant?

The main IP rights of relevance to retailers are patents, designs, copyright and trade marks:

Patents

Patents protect new products (or parts of products) for up to 20 years. For example, if the product in question is an umbrella with an innovative opening mechanism, that mechanism could be protected with a patent.

Designs

Designs protect the appearance of products . There are different types of design rights, the registered right lasts for up to 25 years and the unregistered right lasts for 3 years. Taking the example of the umbrella, a design could protect any patterns on the material of the umbrella, or the shape

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