The UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) have issued Design Practice Notice 01/26 in which they have provided updated guidance on the protection of graphic symbols and graphical user interfaces (GUIs) in Registered Designs, and in particular the protection of graphic symbols and GUIs where they involve animation or movement. The updated guidance can be found here.
Given the sharp increase in digital innovation, from augmented reality to machine learning technologies, it is becoming increasingly important to protect your Intellectual Property (IP) in this space. The Design Practice Notice 01/26 aims to revise and clarify the UK IPO’s practice in relation to graphical symbols and graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to assist designers in protecting their digital designs.
The main focus of the Design Practice Notice 01/26 appears to be the protection and examination of animated graphical symbols and GUIs. For an animated design to meet the requirements for Registration at the UK IPO, the overall impression conveyed by the design must be for a single unitary design. Historically, this has caused issues for Applicants during prosecution of UK Registered Design applications as the UK IPO currently requires that a design is represented only using static representations, and thus if two differing representations of a design depict the design in a different state in an attempt to protect movement in an animation this may result in the UK IPO raising an objection to the representations for being different designs.
The Design Practice Notice 01/26 has provided guidance on how to avoid such an objection from the UK IPO when attempting to protect an animated design via a Registered Design application. Specifically, when filing the application a separate view must be used for each step or movement in the application, and also the application as filed must make clear in the indication of product and/or a disclaimer that the design is an animation. For example, if a Registered Design application is filed which includes a number of representations, each representing a sequence of movements of a particular design, and an Indication of Product such as “animated graphic user interface” or “animated graphic icon” is used, the Examiner would then assess the design as an animation.
This new guidance should provide Applicants with greater certainty when filing UK Registered Design applications directed towards animated graphical symbols or GUIs and also highlights important considerations to be made when filing UK design applications in relation to the Indication of Product and whether to include a written disclaimer.
The attorneys at Secerna LLP have in-depth experience of filing and prosecuting registered design applications in the UK and Europe, as well as various overseas jurisdictions, and can assist you with any design related matters.