Protecting the aesthetics of a product design is as important as a trade mark or a patent.

The time, money and effort that companies put into design is often at the core of a product’s success, therefore, it’s vital to secure its value.

Design rights are sometimes the forgotten protection for businesses, yet will safeguard a company from copycat items emerging once a product has gone to market. From high-fashion to everyday products, the HGF design rights team operates across all sectors to ensure imitations do not have a detrimental effect on a brand’s existing items, whilst protecting new product development from the risk of conflicting with current designs on the marketplace.

To obtain a strong design protection that provides both asset value to exploit and an enforceable legal instrument, careful attention must be paid to the defining and specifying of the design claims in view of the unique circumstances and practices within an organisation’s relevant market, and possible existing relevant prior art, before proceeding to apply for any design registration. Our design rights team has extensive expertise in advising clients on opportunities, risks and the investment of adequate and useful design claims for a vast range of products and brands.