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Reflection on the class - This was a really important class to help me understand how to protect myself as a designer, I find it really helpful being talked through all the different laws and how they will apply to us.
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A great resource that was given to us was the UK government website that provides guidance on intellectual property designs it allows you to register designs and provide copies of, patent, trademark, and design documents. It also provides information on how to defend your intellectual property and how you can also use others, it also clarifies issues of intellectual property rights abroad and overall is a very good resource where you can find lots of help and assistance.
One reason to use the government's guidance website is when you believe your intellectual property has been used without permission which is known as infringement it gives a list of examples of when infringement has happened. It also provides what to do when this has occurred, it's a really helpful website that allows you to protect what you own and support you if there are any issues.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/intellectual-property-designs
I came across this article by Design Council it is a guide to intellectual property it is a more condensed version of the lecture that we received. It describes intellectual property as the cornerstone of the protection of creativity. And allows you to. Have design rights over what you have created.
It is important to have intellectual property rights as you will be the sole person allowed to market it. Even if someone creates a similar design or product to you you have the right to stop them if it is too similar to your own. Another reason that this is really important is because your brand is key it is the identity of your product. The users and customers can identify you from your brand which is why when someone steals your intellectual property they could be heavily benefiting from your brand and name. Of course, when thinking about designs and someone stealing your idea or concept it can be very hard to prove if they have a similar design that is based on yours.
The article explains that most rights that are protecting designs or automatic and free but it is really important to have evidence that you created them so ensuring that you keep all your documents of where it was designed and when, you can also register designs for free. You must know what protection applies to your designs so people don't take advantage of your lack of knowledge.
https://medium.com/design-council/an-experts-guide-to-intellectual-property-3cd96a861ad9
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Reflection on my research - Intellectual property is a really interesting subject and it is really important to know about to be able to protect yourself fully but of course are issues when there is infringement, and I know if I ever have any issues to go talk to a professional to receive guidance.
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