The Intellectual Property Bill has now been introduced to the House of Lords and has started its legislative passage through Parliament. It had its second reading in the Lords last month.
Among the various amendments that it makes to existing IP laws, perhaps the most eye-catching is the creation of a new criminal offence of infringement affecting registered designs.
This makes it an offence to make a product "exactly or substantially to the design" knowing or having reason to believe that the design is a registered design. It also makes it an offence for a person to offer, put on the market, import, export, use or stock such a product for such purposes, knowing or having reason to believe that the design has been copied.
If the Bill becomes law, it will introduce a whole new aspect to registered design claims since a failure to act in response to a letter before action or any recklessness when choosing products for sale could lead to criminal prosecution as well as a civil infringement suit.
Although in practice prosecutions may end up being fairly rare, if the Bill becomes law (and it will be interesting to see how a jury will deal with a registered design case), the maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment. So it is possible that the introduction of this Bill – if it becomes law – may deter some from stocking replicas and imitations of more established products. If so, that is likely to be welcomed by established manufacturers and may reduce some of the pressure on prices produced by alternative products.
Please click here for full details of the Bill.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
