Industry Practice - Design Rights + Asset Development (24/01/25)

Design Rights

 In the UK, designs are protected by 3 legal rights which are: 

• Unregistered Design Rights
• Registered Design Rights
• Artistic Copyright

Unregistered design rights and copyright arise automatically and provide exclusive rights against copying. There are limitations on these rights so it's always best to register them where possible.

Design registration gives the owner monopoly on their product design for a limited period to stop others from making, using or selling a product to which the design has been applied.

Registered Designs

Design rights protect the appearance of a product. This can be the whole or part of a product resulting from the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture or materials. Design rights are a tool for publishers and developers for protecting the appearance of different parts of the game, from game character through to UI,  the backgrounds in gaming environments and even some more functional aspects of gameplay.

Design Law protects both Registered and Unregistered designs. Registered game designs include UI and character design. We should be careful when designing characters that use the image or likeness of other people.

The IPO states that the UK design registration process takes up to one month as long as it's meets the criteria which is:

• The design must be new/ original
• It must not be commonplace (such as a red shirt)
• The design cannot be offensive
• It cannot utilise protected flags and emblems
• It cannot be an invention

An unregistered design right lasts for up to 15 years in the UK and 3 years in the European Union. You can register the design within a year of the date it was first made. A registered design is protected for up to 25 years in the UK.

To protect our assets, we plan to:

• Unique Character
• Make sure not to lean too much towards our benchmark games.
• We've discussed the possibility of registering our UI and finished character designs.