In good news for advocates of IP rights, the UK Intellectual
Property Act has received Royal Assent.
As reported in our
spring newsletter, some of the most interesting changes relate
to design law. These include the introduction of criminal
sanctions against blatant copying of UK registered designs in the
course of business, cheaper options for appeals from decisions of
the UK IPO on registered designs, consistency with EU design law on
matters such as ownership and prior user rights, and the provision
of a UK IPO opinions service on designs, to supplement the existing
service relating to patents.
Whilst the Act is now officially law, most provisions will not
come into force until 1 October 2014, whilst others will take
effect in 2015.
