An alternative to Patents, especially in the UK, is to get your product's design registered. International laws vary (for example, South Africa, Singapore and Hong Kong also have some similar registered design acts of law as far as we know), but in the UK Registered Design Rights are acquired by application to the UK Patents Office.

In the UK they must be renewed every five years or the rights conferred will be lost. Any object that has a unique and specific aesthetically pleasing design or pattern can be registered.

This basically includes anything which is judged by the human eye to be appealing e.g. ornaments, fabric or wall paper patterns, printed designs and collectable designer objet d'art etc. A Registered Design can therefore also have its own UK Design Rights, if it is three-dimensional and intended for industrial exploitation. In addition, it can also be covered by Copyright, if it is an artistic work or creation.

Much like a Patent, if you register a design you will have exclusive rights over the use of the design. This means that only you will be able to use, manufacture or sell the design.

Again, like a Patent, this can be an important method of protecting the market for your work. Registered Designs can be protected under UK law for no more than twenty five years, using the renewal process.

If your country, or the country in which you intend to trade, for example, offers the facility to register a design, and if you have a product with real and ongoing commercial potential that meets the criteria for registration, it is certainly worth looking into it as an initial alternative to a Patent or as additional product security.