For a few years still, the old protection against industrial copyists for infringing copyright in drawings will continue, but this is now being superseded by the new design right protection. Copyright protection normally commences with the production of the original work and expires at the end of the year in which the seventieth anniversary of the death of the originator, for instance author or artist, occurs. A registered design is one recorded in a Register run by the Designs Registry, a section of the Patent Office, which operates under the Registered Designs Act of 1949. If you have a new design, that is a design which no one has ever seen before, and products are going to be produced to that design, then with some exceptions, design registration may be obtained. The important thing is that the design must be new and original.
Registration is usually straightforward provided the papers are in order.
A Government fee is payable on making the application, and the Designs Registry inspects what it receives carefully to see that it complies with the formalities and to see if the design appears to be new, to consist of features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament which in the finished article made to the design, appeal to the eye, and to ensure that the article is of a type for which aesthetic considerations are important. Novelty is judged as at the date the application to register the design was filed at the Designs Registry. It is therefore necessary, if design registration is to be properly obtained, that at the filing date the design is secret, that it has not become known to the public, for example by sale or even just exhibition of articles showing the design. If you want to register your design, you should apply to do so before you have published the design in any way. Even showing it to friends can destroy novelty in law.