Government announces changes to UK designs law
The UK government has announced changes it intends to make to the UK designs including increasing the deferment period, working towards defining bad faith and updates to legislation regarding animations in designs.
The full details, published on 4th November 2026, reveal the changes the UK government is planning to make to UK registered and unregistered designs.
This follows a designs consultation which CITMA, alongside a number of other bodies and individuals, responded to.
The changes will not be implemented immediately, as many require a change to primary legislation. The earliest this could take place is in May 2027, with it likely coming in to force much later.
Click here to read the UK government’s full response and proposed changes
Changes to examination
In the announced changes the government will legislate to give the registrar the power to conduct a novelty examination of designs and to check its individual character in certain circumstances.
The government has said that it needs to undertake further work on introducing a bad faith provision, in particular what would constitute bad faith and what the evidential threshold would be. It would then decide whether it should proceed with legislating that change.
Increasing maximum deferment periods
The UK will be brought into line with the EU on deferment, and facilitate a consistent filing strategy, by introducing a 30-month deferment period. This will start from the earliest priority date or the filing date.
Currently the UK IPO only allows a deferment period of up to 12 months. This is usually applied for to keep the details of designs confidential – which can be important if the product has not been launched yet, or a corresponding patent is being applied for.
Animations and computer generated designs
Legislation will provide clarity that designs containing animation or transition can be protected as registered designs.
The government will also monitor AI use across the design industry to help inform future policy on computer-generated designs. However, nothing will change for now it confirmed.
No criminal sanctions for unregistered designs
The government will not be seeking to introduce criminal offences for unregistered designs. It said that there was “not sufficiently robust evidence” to show that introducing these would be a “balanced and proportionate remedy”.
The government also announced that it will retain both supplementary unregistered designs (SUD) and UK unregistered design right (UK UDR). Further to this it will seek to harmonise qualification requirements and term of protection, which is currently different.
The government said that it has noted the support for this being harmonised at 10 years, however a further economic assessment is required before any changes will be made.
Legislation will be put forward for the creation of a SUD following disclosure anywhere in the world - unless this disclosure does not come to the attention of the relevant trade circles in the UK). This will help mitigate post-Brexit issues with disclosure and simultaneous disclosure in different jurisdictions, at least in the UK.
Copyright law will be left unchanged and further clarity will be allowed to develop through case law.
There will also be a look at adding straightforward, lower value registered design infringement cases to the IPEC Small Claims track. This would not require primary legislation and would give SMEs, in particular, access to a more cost-effective forum for enforcement.
CITMA President Dan Hardman-Smart said: “The changes are balanced and pragmatic and I believe will be broadly welcomed by our members. I look forward to seeing the changes implemented over the coming years.
“The introduction of examination is an interesting development and is reflective of comments we made during the consultation that there are a number of alleged invalid designs on the Register, obviously lacking novelty or individual character.
“Our members value the speed and cost-effectiveness of obtaining design registrations in the UK and we hope this does not lead to longer timelines and increased costs.
“We were delighted to be part of the process and ensure that UK Chartered Trade Mark Attorneys were a key part of the conversation when it comes to shaping law and practice. We will, of course, continue to engage as changes to the designs system come into play providing constructive feedback based on our members’ experiences.”
There are a whole raft of legislative changes and areas the UK government will now explore. Click here to read the consultation outcome in full.
Click here to read our response to the government consultation that we submitted in 2025
Thank you to our Designs and Copyright working group for leading this work - click here to read a summary from the working group's lead John Colham