Description

Over the last few years, design protection has assumed an ever greater prominence on the national and international policymaking agenda. As countries strive to create or revise design protection regimes to encourage creative design that is thought by many to be central to economic or industrial growth, a number of models are being considered. Foremost among those models are those found in the European Union and the United Kingdom, as well as that seen in the United States.

The situation is fluid. In Europe, in July 2016, the European Commission published its Legal Review of Industrial Design Protection. And, as part of the response to the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office is considering options that the United Kingdom might pursue in Brexit negotiations or after Brexit. Singapore’s registered designs review was completed in March 2016 (after nearly 2 years). It was aimed at enhancing support to the design industry, as well as complementing the Design Masterplan 2025 which had recommended that businesses capitalize on IP in value creation through design innovation. At the international level, design protection has been included in the intellectual property chapters of trade agreements (such as the TPP), and discussion of a design treaty is moving apace at the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

This major public conference is part of a research project to explore the role and shape of design protection. It brings together a stellar group of leading scholars, experts from the legal profession, academia, policymakers, and industry design leaders from Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong (China), Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, United Kingdom, United States among others.

The research papers will be published in a special issue of the Oxford Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice which will be edited by David Stone, Graeme Dinwoodie and Elizabeth Siew-Kuan Ng.