Intellectual property is very well protected in this country, by possibly the best laws in the world. My son did try to train as a patent attorney!
I quote from wikipedia:
Directive on the legal protection of designs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A design is defined as "the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation" (Art. 2). Designs may be protected if:
they are novel, that is if no identical design has been made available to the public;
they have individual character, that is the "informed user" would find it different from other designs which are available to the public.
Where a design forms part of a more complex product, the novelty and individual character of the design are judged on the part of the design which is visible during normal use.
Designs are not protected insofar as their appearance is wholly determined by their technical function, or by the need to interconnect with other products to perform a technical function (the "must-fit" exception).
Under UK national law, there are two types of protection available for designs - "Unregistered" Design Right and Registered Designs. Under European law there are two equivalent forms of protection, but this note is mainly concerned with the national UK rights.
From http://www.dehns.com/cms/document/protecting_designs.pdf
Automatic "Unregistered" Design Right
UK law provides a limited degree of automatic protection against the copying of product designs. Generally speaking, there is a five year period during which the owner of a design can prevent others from copying that design without his consent. There is a further five year period during which the owner can demand a royalty for use of the design.
Design Right protects the shape or configuration of the whole or part of an article. It does not protect surface decoration. It also does not protect features of an article which have to match or fit another article. To benefit from Design Right a design has to be original, that is, not commonplace in the design field in question at the time of its creation.
Design Right is very limited. It can only be enforced if it can be shown that the alleged infringer copied the design - a similar design created independently does not infringe. Also, the five year period is much shorter than the design life of many successful products. Design Right is not automatically available to all designers worldwide, and is generally only available for designs made by EU citizens.
Registered Designs
By obtaining a Registered Design, the above problems may be overcome. A Registered Design is a monopoly right granted by the government (the Designs Registry is part of the UK Intellectual Property Office). Assuming the Registration is valid, exclusive use of the design in the UK is provided for up to 25 years - a similar design used by a competitor may infringe regardless of whether it is a copy. If protection is required overseas, then corresponding registrations may be obtained based on the UK application.
This thread was started as a somewhat simplistic comparison between two products, both sourced from China.
They are not designed for the same market and are not even made with the same components.
To 'spot the difference', youwould need to place the two bikes side by side, and that is just the starting point.
So where did Morphix get the facts wrong?
1. passing off. This is a trademark infringement, not applicable here
2, patent infringements: our respective Chinese manufacturers own them. They don't fight over this.
3. design infringements: our respective Chinese manufacturers own them. They don't fight over this.
David @ Wisper is incorrect in his assertion that Woosh copied his design.
I have PM'ed David asking him what he believed that our Chinese manufacturers have stolen from him. It's a simple enough question and he has not been able to provide an answer.
Hatti
I quote from wikipedia:
Directive on the legal protection of designs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A design is defined as "the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation" (Art. 2). Designs may be protected if:
they are novel, that is if no identical design has been made available to the public;
they have individual character, that is the "informed user" would find it different from other designs which are available to the public.
Where a design forms part of a more complex product, the novelty and individual character of the design are judged on the part of the design which is visible during normal use.
Designs are not protected insofar as their appearance is wholly determined by their technical function, or by the need to interconnect with other products to perform a technical function (the "must-fit" exception).
Under UK national law, there are two types of protection available for designs - "Unregistered" Design Right and Registered Designs. Under European law there are two equivalent forms of protection, but this note is mainly concerned with the national UK rights.
From http://www.dehns.com/cms/document/protecting_designs.pdf
Automatic "Unregistered" Design Right
UK law provides a limited degree of automatic protection against the copying of product designs. Generally speaking, there is a five year period during which the owner of a design can prevent others from copying that design without his consent. There is a further five year period during which the owner can demand a royalty for use of the design.
Design Right protects the shape or configuration of the whole or part of an article. It does not protect surface decoration. It also does not protect features of an article which have to match or fit another article. To benefit from Design Right a design has to be original, that is, not commonplace in the design field in question at the time of its creation.
Design Right is very limited. It can only be enforced if it can be shown that the alleged infringer copied the design - a similar design created independently does not infringe. Also, the five year period is much shorter than the design life of many successful products. Design Right is not automatically available to all designers worldwide, and is generally only available for designs made by EU citizens.
Registered Designs
By obtaining a Registered Design, the above problems may be overcome. A Registered Design is a monopoly right granted by the government (the Designs Registry is part of the UK Intellectual Property Office). Assuming the Registration is valid, exclusive use of the design in the UK is provided for up to 25 years - a similar design used by a competitor may infringe regardless of whether it is a copy. If protection is required overseas, then corresponding registrations may be obtained based on the UK application.
This thread was started as a somewhat simplistic comparison between two products, both sourced from China.
They are not designed for the same market and are not even made with the same components.
To 'spot the difference', youwould need to place the two bikes side by side, and that is just the starting point.
So where did Morphix get the facts wrong?
1. passing off. This is a trademark infringement, not applicable here
2, patent infringements: our respective Chinese manufacturers own them. They don't fight over this.
3. design infringements: our respective Chinese manufacturers own them. They don't fight over this.
David @ Wisper is incorrect in his assertion that Woosh copied his design.
I have PM'ed David asking him what he believed that our Chinese manufacturers have stolen from him. It's a simple enough question and he has not been able to provide an answer.
Hatti
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