What is happening in discussions and negotiations on this important issue? What is Government doing to ensure that UK designers are not disadvantaged especially if they may potentially lose a strong Community unregistered design across 27 other member states on which the majority rely?

ACID member and ACID Advisory Council member Rachael Jones, Managing Director of Totseat shared her concerns recently about the lack of clarity surrounding the potential loss of EU unregistered Community designs and uncertainty surrounding existing registered Community designs with her MP, Ian Murray.

A Parliamentary Question was tabled on 23 October 2017.

Ian Murry MP., asked the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, “What actions his Department has taken to ensure that owners of registered and unregistered community design rights maintain that protection when the UK leaves the EU. (108995)”.

The Rt Hon. Jo Johnson Minister, for Intellectual Property, BEIS replied, “The Government recognises that owners of existing Community registered and unregistered design rights want clarity over the coverage of those rights when the UK leaves the EU. We are exploring various options and we are discussing these with users of the system to establish the best way forward.

Rachel Jones of Totseat said, “As an SME with a global footprint, our intellectual property is key to our brand – and value.  Having worked hard to register and protect it, over many years, it’s crucial both that it’s not lost going forward with Brexit, and that we, and others, are not ‘lumbered’ with unexpected default expenses for re-registering everything within the UK itself. 

Dids Macdonald, OBE commented, “We have provided the Intellectual Property Office with case study and research evidence that the potential loss of unregistered Community design could have a calamitous effect on the majority of UK designers affecting many sectors such as fashion, lighting, furniture giftware as well as many other sectors. This issue must be much higher on radar and a position on clarity declared and implemented”

Rob Law, MBE Managing Director of Trunki said, “My company Magmatic t/a Trunki designs and manufacturers children’s travel products. We employ 80 people. Our turnover is approx £8.5 million generated by products protected by registered and unregistered design. If we lose protection of our EU UDR in 28 member states, and are unable to enforce our rights, we predict approximately 25% of our sales could be lost. This could effectively quarter our turnover and lose approximately 20% of our workforce.”

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