The UK Government and the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) have announced a major package of targeted reforms to the UK's designs system, following a consultation on the existing design framework. The changes aim to modernise design protection, simplify registration procedures and make enforcement more accessible, particularly for independent designers and smaller businesses.
The reforms address several longstanding concerns, including the misuse of design registrations, the cost of enforcing design rights and the need to adapt protection to modern digital design practices.
The importance of the design sector to the UK economy is considerable. According to the Design Council's Design Economy 2026 report, the design economy contributed £136.7 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) in 2023 and supported more than 2.27 million jobs in 2025. The proposed changes are intended to make it easier for designers and businesses to protect and commercialise their work.
Key Changes to UK Design Protection
1. Tackling Anti-Competitive Filings and Bad-Faith Registrations
One of the key concerns addressed by the reforms is the misuse of the registered design system. The government has identified cases where businesses register designs created by others or use design registrations to prevent legitimate competitors from selling their products.
To address this, the government intends to introduce legislation giving the IPO new powers to assess whether a design is genuinely new and has individual character before registration. This will help prevent protection being granted to designs that are only trivially different from existing products.
The government will also consider introducing legislation giving the IPO clear powers to refuse bad-faith applications, with further work planned to establish how bad faith should be defined and evidenced.
2. More Affordable Enforcement Through the IPEC Small Claims Track
The cost of enforcing registered design rights can be a significant barrier for smaller businesses and independent designers.
The government intends to take steps to allow registered design disputes to be heard through the Small Claims Track of the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC). This would provide a simpler and lower-cost route for resolving certain disputes, with compensation claims capped at £10,000.
The government will work with designers, legal professionals and business representative groups to consider how this change should be implemented.
3. Extended 30-Month Deferment Period
The government will introduce a new 30-month deferment period for registered designs, bringing the UK into line with the EU and international Hague systems.
This will allow designers to apply for protection earlier while delaying public disclosure of their designs for up to 30 months. For businesses developing new products, this offers greater flexibility when planning commercial launches, without necessarily revealing designs to competitors before they are ready to enter the market.
4. Modernised Protection for Animated and Digital Designs
As product development increasingly incorporates digital interfaces, animation and interactive features, the design protection framework needs to accommodate more than static product designs.
The government will update the law to clarify that designs incorporating animation, movement or transitions can qualify for registered design protection. The IPO will also introduce new file format options, allowing animated designs to be filed as moving image files.
These changes will be particularly relevant to businesses working in digital product design, user experience (UX) and motion graphics.
5. Improvements to Unregistered Design Protection
The reforms also address the complexity of unregistered design protection, including the position of UK designers who first disclose their work overseas.
The government intends to simplify the rules governing unregistered design protection, including aligning the requirements for what qualifies for protection and how long protection lasts.
In addition, Supplementary Unregistered Design (SUD) protection will be extended so that it can apply when a design is first disclosed anywhere in the world. This addresses a post-Brexit disadvantage for UK designers, who could previously risk losing SUD protection if their design was first disclosed outside the UK.
6. Simplifying Registration and Addressing Emerging Technologies
A number of administrative changes are also planned to make design registration more straightforward. These include consolidating multiple objections into a single examination report, standardising response deadlines and giving the Registrar new powers to correct errors on the official register.
The government has also considered the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in design. For now, the existing legal framework for computer-generated designs will remain in place while the government monitors developments in AI and intellectual property and gathers further evidence.
What Happens Next?
The announcement represents the government's formal response to its consultation, rather than the immediate introduction of all the proposed reforms.
The government intends to introduce legislation, when parliamentary time allows, to implement changes requiring it. Further engagement with designers, legal professionals and industry representatives will also take place as the proposals are developed.
For design-led businesses, these reforms could provide a more accessible framework for protecting their work. However, understanding which form of protection is appropriate remains important. UK registered design rights, UK unregistered design rights and supplementary unregistered design rights each offer different forms of protection, and businesses should consider how these rights fit within their wider intellectual property strategy.
How Secerna Can Help
At Secerna, our team of intellectual property specialists advises businesses on protecting and commercialising their innovations and designs. Understanding the available forms of design protection and how they can be used effectively is an important part of developing a robust intellectual property strategy.
Whether you are considering registering a new design, need advice on enforcing existing design rights or want to review your intellectual property portfolio in light of the proposed changes, our attorneys can help.
Contact Secerna to discuss how best to protect your designs and intellectual property.
Source: UK Intellectual Property Office, Designers to get stronger and simpler protection in major reforms, 4 November 2026.
