[Book Review] Designs Law and Practice (3rd Edition)

This is a review of “Designs Law and Practice (3rd Edition)” by RPC. 

Formerly published as Sykes: Intellectual Property in Designs, this is a substantially revised and updated new edition which aims to provide a comprehensive but practical reference source for the various IP rights protecting designs, with a focus on the United Kingdom. 

Written by a team at RPC, together with contributions from law firms in several other countries, including the US, the book covers the following topics:

• Chapter 1: Introduction and historical background to designs law
• Chapter 2: UK Registered Designs
• Chapter 3: Copyright and Industrial Designs
• Chapter 4: UK Unregistered Design Rights
• Chapter 5: Threats of Infringement Proceedings
• Chapter 6: Comparison of Design Rights in Jurisdictions Outside of the UK
• Chapter 7: EU Design Rights and the Impact of Brexit

Structure and format

Before diving into the contents of each chapter, I wanted to mention at the outset one of my favourite features of the book, namely its structure and formatting.  

Not succumbing to the temptation (which is very easily done in IP law) of producing a huge, information-dense tome, one can see that the RPC team have put real thought into the way in which the information is delivered, aiming to provide practical guidance in an accessible way. 

This is done through a mixture of case studies, comparative tables, illustrations and flow-charts, as well as emphasising key quotations in large, bold text - whilst also allowing a deeper dive into the referenced materials where required. 

Although it may sound trivial, this layout allows the reader with real flexibility around the level of detail they want, or need, to go into, and means that it can act as a quick aide-memoire in the time of need for a time-poor practitioner. 

That, combined with the size of the book (much smaller than the usual legal textbooks) makes it a very handy accessory for one's desk drawer. 

UK Design Law 

Chapter 1 ("Introduction and historical background to designs law"), Chapter 2 ("UK Registered Designs") and Chapter 4 ("UK Unregistered Design Rights") together do a good job of setting out a fairly comprehensive, yet concise, overview of design rights in the UK, and their legislative journey over time. 

Whilst the historical element could be said to be more of academic than practical interest, in my view it is pitched at the right level of detail and provides helpful context in understanding the current state of the law and its intentions. In fact, this occurs in various sections of the book, such as in Chapter 4 on unregistered design rights, where the context as to their inception (i.e. combatting the reliance on copyright to protect functional designs, in order to benefit from the longer period of protection) is very helpful in understanding their purpose and the distinction with copyright.   

A particularly nifty feature is the flow chart for establishing whether a design is capable of registration based on a series of simple yes/no questions.  

Copyright 

In Chapter 3 ("Copyright and Industrial Designs"), RPC do a stellar job of untangling the web surrounding the overlap between copyright and design rights in a post-Cofemel era, including a summary of the most recent cases on the topic in the UK, namely Response Clothing and WaterRower.

Particularly helpful is the last page of the chapter which contains a one-page comparison table setting out a summary of the key differences between copyright, registered design rights, and unregistered design rights.  

Infringement

Chapter 5 ("Threats of Infringement Proceedings") is a good example of RPC's practical aspirations in writing this book, as the risk of unjustified threat proceedings being brought in respect of an overzealous cease and desist letter is one which is often overlooked by practitioners and brand owners alike. 

This chapter breaks down in some detail the various limbs of the unjustified threats regime, and the defences to it, so as to provide the reader with sufficient knowledge to tread safely. 

Other territories

Finally, Chapter 6 ("Comparison of Design Rights in Jurisdictions Outside of the UK") and Chapter 7 ("EU Design Rights and the Impact of Brexit") deal with design rights in other territories. 

Chapter 6 contains a number of comparative tables (prepared in collaboration with local firms) summarising the key similarities and differences in the design rights laws in the US, the EU and Italy, and Hong Kong, as well as select best practices for securing and defending design rights in each of those jurisdictions, while Chapter 7 goes into some detail on EU Community Design Rights and the implications of Brexit for existing and future registrations. 

Overall impression 

As will be clear from the above, I was really taken by the book's practicality and user-friendliness, and will certainly be using it myself when I need to quickly check a design rights question. 

 

Details: 

Available in Hardback

Extent: 202 pages

ISBN: 978-1-47432-016-0

Publisher: LexisNexis Butterworths