Prepare your design application

- Your illustrations must present an accurate and complete picture of your design.

- The illustrations should therefore include a series of views of the product which the design is applied to. If you only want to protect a part of a product the illustration should include a 'partial disclaimer'

- If you need to explain any design features which cannot be clearly seen in your illustrations, you may include a brief description at the bottom of sheet 1 of the illustrations.

You prepare and file an application form DF2A "Application to register a design".

You must send us two identical copies of your illustrations with this application.

We will send you a receipt for your application.

We will examine your application within two months of reciept, to see if it meets the formal requirements, and also on the substantive grounds for refusal of registration. Although we do not to automatically search every application to determine if it is new or has individual character, we will object to registration if we have reasonable grounds to believe that the design is not new or that it lacks individual character compared to previous designs.

We publish UK registered designs in 'Designs in View', which provides an opportunity for anyone to challenge the validity of registered designs.

We normally register applications within about three to four months. But if your application meets all the legal requirements when we get it, we will normally register it within six to eight weeks. We will send you a Registered Design certificate.

Prepare your design application

- Your illustrations must present an accurate and complete picture of your design.

- The illustrations should therefore include a series of views of the product which the design is applied to. If you only want to protect a part of a product the illustration should include a 'partial disclaimer'

- If you need to explain any design features which cannot be clearly seen in your illustrations, you may include a brief description at the bottom of sheet 1 of the illustrations.