UK To Introduce Webmarking For Registered Designs

By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch

With strong backing from interested parties in the intellectual property community, the United Kingdom government plans to introduce legislation to give registered UK or European Community design holders the option to mark their products with the address of a website that links to the relevant registered design numbers, it said today.

The announcement is available here [pdf].

In a consultation on possible changes to the Registered Designs Act 1949, the government asked for input on whether the current law, which requires design owners to mark or stamp their products with the word “registered” alongside the relevant registered design number(s) as a way of disproving an infringement was “innocent.”

But the current arrangements are cumbersome and prevent easy updating when registrations change, the government said. Allowing products to carry weblinks to the required information would complement changes made to UK patent rules as well as US practice.

The government said it will now “look for an appropriate legislative vehicle to bring about this change as soon as possible.”