Despite being a pretty inexpensive and easy way to protect a new product, registered designs are not straightforward. They are not examined in any great detail, and as such the owner really has little idea how strong or weak his or her design is.
That's why understanding how design law works is important. A recent case heard by the General Court of the EU covers the all-important idea of "individual character".
There are two main reasons-
Searching is a complex art which most patent attorneys avoid like the plague- we tend to outsource to specialists. That said, as an aspiring inventor with a good idea, there is some preliminary searching you can do yourself to get a head start. Here are 5 tips to get you started.
Has the world gone crazy? Are companies spending millions on R&D, tens of thousands on patent protection and just giving it all away? Tesla, Ford, Toyota - all have attracted headlines along the lines of "Company X opens up patent portfolio" or "Company Y gives away patents". But what's really going on?
