*New Intellectual Property Act 2014*
After months of parliamentary debate and scrutiny, on 14 May 2014, the Intellectual Property Bill received Royal Assent and became the Intellectual Property Act 2014 (the Act). It will now be
After months of parliamentary debate and scrutiny, on 14 May 2014, the Intellectual Property Bill received Royal Assent and became the Intellectual Property Act 2014 (the Act). It will now be necessary to pass Secondary legislation to implement the measures contained in the Act, some of which are expected to come into force from October 2014, with all measures aimed at being implemented by late 2015.
The Act is the result of various design and patent consultations following the Hargreaves review of intellectual property published in 2011. The purpose of the Act is to modernise aspects of the law relating to intellectual property in order to encourage and drive economic growth and innovation and expand the design sector in general. There were concerns that the enforcement process for designs was prohibitively expensive, that the law was over-complicated and was not adequate to address the needs of the design sector. The Act aims to simplify and strengthen design and patent protection, make the IP system clearer and more accessible, especially to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), and ensure the UK IP system operates efficiently and in line with the European system.
The new Act centres mainly on the design and patent sectors and amends mostly the Registered Designs Act 1949, the Patents Act 1977 and the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Main provisions include:
Please click here to see our full commentary on the new Act.
The Act is the result of various design and patent consultations following the Hargreaves review of intellectual property published in 2011. The purpose of the Act is to modernise aspects of the law relating to intellectual property in order to encourage and drive economic growth and innovation and expand the design sector in general. There were concerns that the enforcement process for designs was prohibitively expensive, that the law was over-complicated and was not adequate to address the needs of the design sector. The Act aims to simplify and strengthen design and patent protection, make the IP system clearer and more accessible, especially to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), and ensure the UK IP system operates efficiently and in line with the European system.
The new Act centres mainly on the design and patent sectors and amends mostly the Registered Designs Act 1949, the Patents Act 1977 and the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Main provisions include:
- New criminal sanctions for the intentional copying of a registered design
- New ownership rules to align UK designs with EU law so that the default owner of a design will be the designer, not the commissioner
- A tighter definition of what qualifies for protection in unregistered design right law
- Provisions allowing for the implementation of the Unified Patent Court Agreement in the UK
- Changes to the current Patent Opinions Service and a new similar Design Opinions Service
Please click here to see our full commentary on the new Act.