The UK government announced on 4 November 2026 a package of reforms to the country's design protection system, intended to make it simpler, harder to abuse, and more accessible — particularly for independent designers and small studios. The changes, described as the government's formal response to a consultation that closed in November 2025, follow extensive engagement with designers, industry representative organisations, and other stakeholders.
Curbing Registration Abuse
A central element of the reforms involves new powers for the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to assess whether a design is genuinely new before it is registered. The government also intends to give the IPO the ability to consider whether a design application has "individual character" — meaning it creates a clearly different overall impression from anything already made public — to prevent protection being granted to only trivially different products.
The measures target a pattern of misuse in which designs created by others, or generic products, are registered and then weaponised to issue takedown notices on online marketplaces or initiate costly legal disputes. The government will additionally consider legislation giving the IPO explicit powers to refuse bad-faith applications, though it said further work is needed first to define bad faith in practice and identify the evidence required to prove it.
Easier Court Access for Small Businesses
Registered design disputes are currently confined to the Patents Court or the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) multi-track, which the government acknowledged can put legal action beyond the reach of smaller claimants. Under the reforms, registered design cases would be eligible for the IPEC Small Claims Track for the first time — a lower-cost route with compensation claims capped at £10,000.
Longer Preparation Window and Digital Coverage
A new 30-month deferment period will allow designers to apply for protection early and delay making their design public, bringing the UK into line with the EU and the international Hague systems. The government will also update the law to clarify that designs incorporating animation, movement, or transitions can qualify for registered design protection, and the IPO will introduce new file format options allowing animated designs to be filed as moving image files.
Unregistered Designs and Process Simplification
Rules on unregistered design protection will be simplified and aligned on qualification criteria and duration. The government will also change the law so that supplementary unregistered design protection can apply when a design is disclosed anywhere in the world, removing what it described as a post-Brexit disadvantage for designers launching at international trade shows or publishing work online globally.
This article is based on a primary source and has undergone editorial review prior to publication.
