Government calls for evidence on design rights

At a Design Council event this morning Baroness Wilcox parliamentary under-secretary for Business Innovation and Skills, called for help from the design industry.

‘I urge the business community to participate in this call for evidence and help shape the future of design in the UK,’ says Wilcox.

This comes in the wake of IP reforms announced in August by the government – a response to Professor Ian Hargreaves’ review of Intellectual Property and Growth.

 Today’s announcement looks to be addressing doubts over whether the design rights system in the UK is geared to the needs of business.

Following the IP reform  announcements last month, Anti Copyrighting in Design chief executive Dids Macdonald told Design Week that only 2111 designers had registered for design right last year, overlooking ‘the 99 per cent who rely on unregistered design right.’

Wilcox made reference to preliminary design rights research made by the Government which shows that the UK spends more on design related products and services then other European countries, but there is low awareness of design rights and that registered design rights are used mainly in specific sectors including furniture and clothing.

The online survey can be found at http://www.ipo.gov.uk/hargreaves-designs-c4e.pdf