The government has today (4 November 2026) announced a major overhaul of the UK’s designs system. Reforms will make design protection and enforcement simpler for the country’s 80,000 design businesses.
The UK’s design sector contributed close to £137 billion to the economy in 2023 and supports more than 2 million jobs. But the current designs system has long been criticised as overly complex, placing a disproportionate burden on lone designers and microbusinesses. These have been estimated to make up 92% (PDF, 15.8 MB) of design businesses.
Following a consultation led by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), which closed in November 2025, the government is today (4 November 2026) setting out a package of targeted reforms.
give smaller design businesses a simpler, more affordable route to court when they believe their designs have been copied
Together, these measures will create a design system that is clearer, easier to use and better suited to modern design by being:
The reforms announced today (4 November 2026) are the government’s formal response to the consultation that closed in November 2025. They follow extensive engagement with designers, industry representative organisations and other stakeholders.
They will help ensure the UK’s design system remains fit for purpose in a fast-changing digital economy, laying the foundations for the decades ahead.
The government intends to introduce legislation to give the IPO new powers to consider whether a design is genuinely new before it is registered.
These registrations are then used to block competitors by sending takedown notices to online marketplaces, dragging other businesses into costly legal disputes. Affected businesses reported spending between £10,000 and more than £50,000 to resolve these cases. The new powers will help protect designers from a serious threat that many — especially independent designers and small studios — cannot afford to challenge.
The IPO will also be able to consider whether a design application has ‘individual character’ — in other words, whether it creates a clearly different overall impression from anything already made public. This will help ensure protection is not granted to designs that are only trivially different from existing products.
The government will also consider bringing forward legislation to give the IPO clear powers to refuse bad-faith design applications. Before doing so, it will carry out further work to define bad faith in practice and identify the evidence needed to prove it. This will help ensure any specific new provision is clear, workable and proportionate.
At present, registered design cases must go through the Patents Court or Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) multi-track. This can put legal action beyond the reach of those who need it most. The government will take steps to allow registered design cases to be heard in the IPEC Small Claims Track for the first time.
The Small Claims Track is a simpler, lower-cost route through the courts for straightforward, lower-value disputes, with compensation claims capped at £10,000. This change would make access to justice easier and considerably more affordable for individual designers and small businesses.
In the coming months, the government will work with designers, legal professionals and business representative groups to consider how this change should be taken forward.
The government will introduce a new 30-month deferment period, bringing the UK into line with the EU and the international Hague systems. Designers will be able to apply for protection early and delay making their design public for up to 30 months.
The government will update the law to make clear that a design which includes animation, movement or transitions, can qualify for registered design protection. This will provide greater legal clarity for digital designers and businesses creating moving or interactive designs.
The IPO will also introduce new file format options so animated designs can be filed as moving image files as part of the registration process. This better reflects how digital design work is created and presented.
The government will simplify the rules for unregistered design protection, which many designers find complex and difficult to navigate. Aligning the rules on what qualifies for protection and how long it lasts will make it easier for designers to understand what protects their work.
The government will also change the law so that supplementary unregistered design protection can apply when a design is disclosed anywhere in the world.
This removes a post-Brexit disadvantage: a UK designer launching at an international trade show or publishing work online globally will be able to have the same protection as one who first discloses their work in the UK.
These changes will reduce the administrative burden on sole traders and microbusinesses, for whom registering and maintaining design protection can currently be time-consuming and complex.
The existing legal framework for computer-generated designs will remain in place while this evidence base continues to develop.
The Intellectual Property Act 2014 specifies that criminal sanctions can be made against anyone found to have intentionally copied a registered design without explicit consent from the design’s owner.
The call for evidence on criminal sanctions for unregistered design infringement attracted strongly held views. However, the government concluded that there is insufficient robust evidence to demonstrate that introducing criminal offences for unregistered design infringement would be a balanced, proportionate and effective remedy.
Britain’s designers are some of the best in the business, but small firms and independent designers too often struggle to reap their hard-earned rewards because of an outdated system.
Our reforms will make protecting their hard work simpler, so designers spend less time bogged down in admin and more time unleashing the creativity that drives them, and ultimately benefits us all through innovative products and services.
Stronger, simpler and clearer design protection will help prevent the system being misused, remove unnecessary complexity and give designers a clearer and more accessible route to enforce their rights.
For small businesses and lone designers in particular, clearer rules and fewer barriers can make a real difference. By creating a system that works better from application through to enforcement and better reflects modern design practice, we will help give creators of all sizes greater confidence to invest in their ideas and turn them into successful products and enterprises.
Britain’s designers shape everything from the clothes we wear to the places we live and work. But too many self-employed designers and small studios have had their work copied or been dragged into legal disputes, costing thousands of pounds, for simply protecting what they’ve created.
These reforms will make the system simpler, fairer and more affordable, so that smaller businesses can protect their ideas and focus on their growth.
Our members advise designers and businesses of all sizes on protecting and enforcing their designs, so we see every day how much the system matters to those who rely on it. We welcome the Government’s measured proposals for reform and are particularly pleased to see that many of our recommendations have been taken on board. The planned changes have the potential to deliver practical improvements for designers and businesses, and we are eager to see the next steps.
We are grateful to the IPO for engaging so closely with the IP profession and other stakeholders throughout this process, and we look forward to continuing to work together as the reforms are implemented.
John Coldham, Chair of the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (CITMA) Designs & Copyright Working Group and Head of IP at Gowling WLG, said:
This design consultation has involved significant work, and the IPO has made significant effort to ensure the voices of all designers have been heard. The results are thoughtful and positive, reflecting the reality that design law has to suit a lot of different requirements. Even small design businesses operate across multiple platforms and countries, and need a design system that is simple whilst effectively protecting creativity cheaply. The retention of both UK design right and supplementary unregistered design, with plans to harmonise qualification, will come as a huge relief to designers. We look forward to working with government on the next steps of this vital work.
Innovative businesses need a designs framework that is clear, balanced and commercially workable. The IP Federation welcomes these reforms, which take a proportionate approach to improving the system and will help businesses invest in new products and technologies with greater confidence.
In particular, the IP Federation welcomes the confirmation that criminal sanctions for unregistered design infringement will not be introduced. This outcome aligns with its consultation response and supports a proportionate, civil enforcement-led system that maintains legal certainty and encourages innovation within a modernised designs regime. We are grateful to the IPO for engaging so closely with industry throughout this process, and we look forward to continuing to work together as the changes are taken forward.
The Design Council welcomes the government’s plans to take forward changes that will make the UK’s design protection system clearer, more accessible and better suited to the needs of designers.
For a sector that drives growth, innovation and progress towards a more sustainable economy, this is an important step forward. The UK’s design economy supports more than 2.27 million jobs and contributes £136.7 billion to the economy, underlining the importance of ensuring designers and design-led businesses can protect and realise the value of their creativity. A more responsive IP framework will give them greater confidence to invest in new ideas and compete internationally.
These reforms recognise the changing nature of design and the need for a framework that keeps pace with innovation. We encourage the government to build on this progress and continue working with industry to ensure the UK’s design protection system remains fit for the future and supports designers of all disciplines and sizes.
Original design is central to how brands stand out and earn consumers’ trust. The British Brands Group welcomes the government’s reforms to the UK designs system, which will help make protection clearer and easier to use for businesses of all sizes.
We are grateful to the IPO for engaging with our members throughout this process. We look forward to continuing to work together as changes are implemented and where stakeholder input is required.
Fashion is one of Britain’s greatest creative exports, and it thrives because of the talent and originality of its designers. We warmly welcome the government’s commitment to strengthening design protection, particularly its recognition that the breadth of unregistered design rights must be preserved, which is vital for fashion businesses.
A clearer, more modern system can help fashion designers of every size, from emerging names to established fashion houses, protect their work and invest with confidence in new creations. We are grateful to the government for listening to the sector, and we look forward to continuing to work together to ensure these changes deliver practical benefits for British fashion talent.
Sources and further reading
GOV.UK — News & Communications — original report · Original publication: 2026-11-04
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