The UK Intellectual Property Office has launched a consultation on modernising the country’s design protection system and strengthening the UK’s position on designs.

The consultation runs from 4 September to 27 November 2025 and can be accessed here. Responses are welcomed from design professionals across all sectors, legal professionals and other stakeholders.

Proposals in the consultation include:

• Streamlining processes including harmonising time limits and procedures across different types of design protection, consolidating the complex patchwork of unregistered designs and providing clearer guidance to increase accessibility to designs. Formal deferment provisions are also being considered.
• Fighting misuse of designs: search and examination powers to identify and reject designs that lack novelty or individual character, particularly targeting anti-competitive filings, as well as bad faith divisions.
• Resolving post-Brexit complexities and, in particular, options to address the legal uncertainty around disclosure and the creation of Supplementary Unregistered Design Rights.
• Strengthening enforcement options by exploring the creation of a small claims court track within the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court specifically for design disputes and criminal sanctions for unregistered design infringement.
• Modernising for the digital age by allowing applicants to submit new file formats such as video clips and CAD files when applying for design protection and updating legal definitions to ensure future industries and technologies can benefit from design protection. The government is also considering whether they should maintain the existing protection for computer-generated designs without a human author (which includes AI).

Launching the consultation, IP Minister Feryal Clark MP said: “These reforms will help remove barriers and make it easier for designers of all shapes and sizes to protect their creations – cementing our position as one of the world’s leading destinations for design investment and innovation.”

The MARQUES Designs Team is reviewing the consultation and MARQUES may submit a response. To find out more, please contact Sally Britton or another member of the Designs Team.