March 2003
Briffa launches
designprotect
Design protection made simple
March 2003
For Immediate Release
For designers wishing to showcase their work, exhibitions are undeniably valuable. But important as they are, designers need to be aware that some of the 'interest' generated at such events might put their businesses at risk. What can designers do to help protect their work from being copied (and not just when it is on display?) The answer is simple - sign up to designprotect, an innovative membership-based service offering designers everything they need to protect and manage their work, simply and cost-effectively.
Developed by Briffa, the intellectual property and information technology lawyers, designprotect provides all the essential tools designers need to become more aware of their rights and protect themselves from possible infringements. For an annual fee of just £40 + VAT, designers can receive a comprehensive package of services including free specialist legal advice, assistance with formal registration of designs, as well as access to a wealth of on-line information.
"Whether you design textiles, fabric, prints, garments, footwear, accessories or 3D objects, designprotect can help make sure you maximise your product's benefits and avoid problems," says Lee Gage at Briffa. Designers need only register their details on the service's own website www.designprotect.com to receive a welcome pack that includes details of a programme of quarterly seminars, and a series of guides on critical industry issues including branding, licensing, patents as well as copyright and designs laws. A guide that will prove particularly valuable to designers is "A Guide to Exhibiting", which provides practical advice on how best to protect their designs from being copied whilst on display at exhibitions. As part of this initiative, members are provided with a distinctive lime green and black membership sign to erect at exhibitions to advise of the rights claimed in the designs on display.
All members of designprotect are also sent a free basic confidentiality agreement and are offered, at low cost, a range of other standardised documents valuable to design businesses on the designprotect.com 'internet' shop. In the future, Briffa also plans to nurture a chat forum on the website, enabling designers to share knowledge and exchange views on a wealth of IP issues such as how much royalty a chair designer should expect.
What makes designprotect really innovative, however, is the designprotect log, an informal, yet highly effective way for designers to lodge their designs. The designprotect log offers designers an independent party who can vouch for a designer's creation and ownership of a specific design. Designers simply need to send in their design sketches, roughs, prototypes and finished products and Briffa will stamp all documents as proof of receipt and retain them in a log together with any samples. If ever a designer needs to show when and how a particular design was created, a simple phone call to Briffa is all that is needed. If a designer wishes to formally register his/her designs, Briffa can assist with all aspects of the registered design process for a fixed fee.
designprotect is the latest in a series of initiatives developed by Briffa to provide designers with some of the know how to put in place the best business plan to help themselves. Other initiatives include Briffa's award winning 'internet shop' at www.briffa.com, which offers a range of low-cost standard documents according to industry. Briffa has also given over 400 free preliminary consultations and seminars to advise businesses on how to protect their intellectual property.
Issued on behalf of Briffa
By Marie-Louise Morley at Apposite Communications
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