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5 Info. & Comm. Tech. L. 253 (1996)
Industrial Design Law

handle is hein.journals/infctel5 and id is 241 raw text is: Information & Communications Technology Law, Vol. 5, No. 3, 1996 Book Reviews Industrial Design Law C. Fellner London, Sweet & Maxwell, 1995 xxxiv + 302 pp., £58 (hardback) The reader might question the relevance of industrial design law to computers and information technology. Although the term 'industrial design' conjures up images of spare parts for motor vehicles, mass-produced furniture, packaging, containers and general household objects, it is important to the computer industry in two senses. First, semiconductor topographies are protected by a variant of the unregistered design right. Secondly, aspects of the shape, configuration, patterns and ornament applied to computer hardware may be protected by registration of the design and, in many cases, also by the unregis- tered design right. A glance through the registered design applications section of the Patents Journal will confirm how much interest is taken in industrial design by the computer giants. Designs are registered for notebook computers, mice, monitors and modems. However, it is a sad fact that around two-thirds of registered designs are now applied for by foreign applicants. Industrial design is the 'Cinderella' of all the various intellectual property rights. It is massively undervalued and misunderstood and a major contributing factor has been the dreadful mess that design law got into through inept legislation and judicial intervention. Before the reforms to design law introduced by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, designs having eye-appeal could be afforded monopoly protection for up to 15 years by registration under the Registered Designs Act 1949. Any copyright in drawings representing such designs was effectively limited to 15 years. However, functional designs not being registrable under the Act could, through drawings showing the design, attract copyright protection for the life of the author of the drawing plus 50 years. The potential implications of this in the context of the design of functional spare parts could be seen in the House of Lords decision in British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd v. Armstrong Patents Company Ltd (1986) 2 WLR 400 in which their Lordships, desperate to prevent artistic copyright being used to give strong and enduring protection to spare parts, used the concept of non-derogation from grant in an attempt to guarantee a 'free' market in replacement parts. Where better for Christine Fellner's book to start than to discuss the evolution of design law in the UK, the anomalies that became apparent in design law and the background to the present legislative framework for design protection. The background material is set out in the first chapter in a helpful manner and gives a good grounding for the subsequent discussion and examination of design law which, although much more principled and rational since the 1988 Act, remains a complex and difficult area. Fellner covers in detail the three main rights that can apply to designs, being registered designs, the unregistered design right and, finally, artistic copyright, which still has a subsidiary role to play. There are chapters on the scope and content of design law, subsistence, 0360-0834/96/030253-05 @ 1996 Journals Oxford Ltd 253

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