ACID CEO, Dids Macdonald\u2019s said: \u201cImitation isn’t flattery if it costs you your business. It nearly cost me mine!\u201d<\/p>\n
And so she shares her expert advice on how to best protect your intellectual property below, to ensure that you are prepared to protect your designs:<\/p>\n
If costs permit, make sure you register<\/a> your designs as comprehensively as possible. UK and EU<\/a> registration authorities do not examine your registrations, so what you submit is what you have to rely on. So, the more detail you include, the better!<\/p>\n Alternatively, if you can\u2019t afford registration, ACID membership will give you access to a Design Databank through ACID Marketplace which holds over 300,000 designs. This doesn\u2019t add to your design rights but gives independent, dated evidence of the existence of the design.<\/p>\n It sounds simple, but when it comes to proving your design ownership, an audit trail of the detailed journey from idea to the marketplace is compelling. The majority of cases for which ACID members have received settlements are based on strong evidence to support designs. This is whether they are registered or unregistered.<\/p>\n Know the intellectual property (IP) laws that protect you<\/a>, and watch the competition. What\u2019s in a name? Trademark your brand name<\/a> if you can. The more you build up your reputation either under your own name or one you trade under, the stronger protection you have. Take a look at the IPO website<\/a>.<\/p>\n ACID started the UK\u2019s first Designs Exchange, ACID Marketplace, which the Government warmly welcomed. It is a safer trading platform where designers can lodge their work and create positive relationships with design buyers. They can view your latest designs by registering and agreeing to the ACID Design Buyers\u2019 Charter. The good news is that you can track who has viewed them.<\/p>\n Think about IP Insurance. You insure your car and your home, why not your designs and future? ACID also provides an optional IP insurance product for registered and unregistered designs to members.<\/p>\n Often, it is difficult to decide whether your case is strong enough to take legal action. ACID\u2019s specialist team of Legal Affiliates, who are intellectual property experts, can help with an opinion about what is and isn\u2019t protected under unregistered rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ACID, the organisation concerned with helping designers and manufacturers to protect their intellectual property, explain what to do to prevent someone ripping off your design and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3928],"tags":[4877],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fashioninsiders.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fashioninsiders.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fashioninsiders.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fashioninsiders.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fashioninsiders.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fashioninsiders.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fashioninsiders.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fashioninsiders.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fashioninsiders.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fashioninsiders.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Sign and date all your work<\/h3>\n
Become IP savvy<\/h3>\n
Trade more safely<\/h3>\n
Do you need an expert opinion?<\/h3>\n