We protect our products to make them unique. How? With an Intellectual Property design certificate.
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is the official UK government body responsible for intellectual property (IP) rights.
Design intellectual property is creations of the mind, in other words where someone designs or creates an idea. This includes designs, symbols, inventions, artistic and literary works, and names and images that may be used in commerce.
Intellectual property is protected by the law through copyright, patents, and trademarks. These allow people to get a financial benefit or earn recognition for the products they create. Having the right type of intellectual property protection helps you to stop people stealing or copying the names of your product or brands, or the design or look of your products, or things you write, make or produce.
The owner of an industrial design that is registered or has a design patent has the legal right to stop third parties from selling, importing, or making articles that copy their design.
Most countries require every industrial design to be registered so they will have the protection of the industrial design law. The laws in some countries allow limited protection to designs that are not registered, known as unregistered industrial designs.
A design patent protects original, new, and non-obvious designs for a manufactured article. The patent does not protect the functional or structural features, only the appearance of it.
A registered design makes sure the visual appearance of the item is protected and gives the creator the right to legally stop a party who's unauthorized from using or producing the design.
Protecting your intellectual property makes it easier to take legal action against anyone who steals or copies it.
The type of protection you can get depends on what you’ve created. You get some types of protection automatically, others you have to apply for. Automatic protection is Copyright, Writing and literary works, art, photography, films, tv, music, web content and sound recordings. Design rights, shapes of objects. Protection you have to apply for is Trademarks which are product names, logos and jingles. Registered designs which are the appearance of a product including, shape, packaging, patterns, colours and decoration. Patents are inventions and products, machines and machine parts, tools or medicines.
My Anxious Dog is trademarked and our “ANXIOUS”, “KEEP AWAY” and “DO NOT TOUCH” yellow collars, leads, harnesses and coats are protected with Intellectual Property design certificates.