TABLE OF CONTENTS To the general public, the word design probably means the external appearance of an object, its visual appeal. To an engineer, the word is more closely linked to the way the object functions, but good engineering design is also aesthetically satisfying.
One of the definitions of design in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary is adaptation of means to ends , which applies to both the artistic and the practical design processes. In each, an inherent skill in the creator is developed by training, thenusedinnovatively, whether on paper, on screen or directly on materials.
In the UK, the benefit of innovative design to the economy is well recognised, and both artistic and functional designs are legally protected. Just as one type of design merges into the other, so do the applicable areas of law, which are copyright, design right and registered design.
Chapter 2 explains how copyright applies to drawings, whether intended to be artistic or produced in an industrial context. This chapter looks at the legal position when a three-dimensional object is made, often by reference to such a drawing.
Two such objects are semiconductor chips and the masks used during chip manufacture. Design right extends to chips and masks, and is dealt with separately in Section 3.6.
The concept of design right was introduced into the UK in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (the 88 Act) which came into force on 1 August 1989. The intention, made clear...
