Our pages on designs explain how your design can be protected, and discuss some of the other issues that you may need to consider.

In the context of intellectual property, the "design" of an article is generally its shape or ornamentation applied to it, although the exact definition varies between different types of protection. Essentially, the design of a product relates to its appearance, rather than to technical principles of its construction or operation.

There are a number of ways in which designs can be protected, and these pages deal with how to register your design in the United Kingdom and EU-wide, and also explain automatic (unregistered) design protection that arises without registration.

Our pages on copyright protection provide a brief introduction to this topic and cover some more specific points about copyright protection for industrial articles, software and trade marks.