UK to criminalise deliberate copying of design
News: the deliberate copying of a design is set to become a criminal offence in the UK, in line with the law on breaching copyright and trademarks. More
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UK design copyright bill comes into force
A bill to extend copyright protection on industrial design from 25 years to the length of the author's life plus 70 years has today become law in the UK. More
“Milan is a breeding ground for people who copy our products”
Dezeen and MINI World Tour: in this movie filmed in Milan earlier this month, leading designers and manufacturers discuss the phenomenon of copying and how they are responding. "It’s become an increasingly big problem for us," says Tom Dixon. "People can steal ideas and produce them almost faster than we can now." More
"Extending copyright for design condemns us to mid-century modernism"
Opinion: in his latest Opinion column, Sam Jacob argues that the UK government's plans to extend the copyright term for design "protect existing interests instead of promoting innovation". More
Design award contender exhibits copies of rivals' objects
News: a nominee for the Design Museum's Design of the Year award has caused controversy by presenting 3D-printed copies of two of the other finalists' work. More
Droog copies China
News: Dutch design collective Droog will turn the notion of piracy in China on its head by unveiling its own copies of Chinese objects in a Guangzhou shopping centre next week. More
Emeco settles dispute over Navy Chair copy
News: American brand Emeco has reached a settlement in its legal dispute with Restoration Hardware after claiming the fellow US company's Naval Chair (below) is a rip-off of its classic Navy Chair (above). More
Zaha Hadid building pirated in China
News: a building designed by Zaha Hadid for Beijing has been copied by a developer in Chongqing, with the two projects racing to be completed first. More
Apple pays up for using Swiss rail operator's clock design – Bloomberg
News: Apple has agreed to pay Swiss railway operator SBB an undisclosed amount for copying its trademark station clock design (above) in the new iPad, reports Bloomberg. More
"Legal systems don't really defend designers at all" - Tom Dixon
London Design Festival: "Legal systems don't really defend designers at all" when it comes to copying, British designer Tom Dixon told Dezeen today at the Global Design Forum, a day of talks from leading figures in the design world as part of the London Design Festival (+audio). More
"Copying is both fundamental and dangerous to architecture" - Sam Jacob of FAT
FAT director Sam Jacob explains why he believes that "copying is both fundamental to how architecture develops and something that threatens its foundational belief in originality," in this movie we filmed at the Venice Architecture Biennale, where the firm has created an installation called The Museum of Copying. More
The Museum of Copying by FAT at Venice Architecture Biennale 2012
London studio FAT will create an exhibition dedicated to architectural copying inside a 5-metre-high model of Palladio's Villa Rotunda for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2012 next week. More
Qatar accused of "counterfeiting 1000 street lamps"
Dezeen Wire: Spanish lighting brand Santa & Cole has launched a lawsuit accusing the state of Qatar of copying street lighting devised for Barcelona by Catalan designer Beth Galí in 1996. More
"Retailers urged to support design copyright campaign" - The Guardian
Dezeen Wire: The Guardian reports on a campaign to persuade high-street retailers to respect the intellectual property of independent designers following the case of English pattern designer Rachael Taylor, who last week spoke out after finding a product almost identical to her own on sale at Marks & Spencer (above and below; Taylor's designs are on the right in both photos). More
UK copyright law changed to protect design classics
Dezeen Wire: the UK government has announced changes in the law that will extend copyright protection of 'artistic' manufactured goods from just 25 years to the life of the creator plus 70 years, giving design the same term of protection as literature and art. More
Elle Decoration launches campaign toprotect the rights of UK designers
Dezeen Wire: homes and interiors publication Elle Decoration UK has announced a campaign aimed at challenging intellectual property rights in Britain, where designers are currently afforded less protection from copying than those from other creative disciplines. More
$180 billion spent on royalty fees annually - Washington Post
Dezeen Wire: the U.N. World Intellectual Property Agency has reported a rise in the amount paid as royalties and licensing fees from $2.8 billion to $180 billion in the last 40 years, representing a 60-fold increase – The Washington PostThe report shows that high income countries such as France, Germany, Japan, Britain and the United States continue to lead the way in research and development but that China's share in the global market has risen from 2.2 percent in 1993 to 12.8 per cent in 2009.
Last week we reported on measures being taken by the UK government to improve intellectual property laws, designer James Dyson also raised the issue when he accused a Chinese manufacturer of copying one of his brand's vacuum designs and Elle Decoration editor Michelle Ogundehin has criticised companies who reproduce classic products.
ACID seeks evidence of copying in design
Dezeen Wire: UK industry body Anti Copying in Design (ACID) is calling on designers to share their experiences of intellectual property infringement to help support its submission to the government's review of design law. More-
Government seeks designers' views on copyright
Dezeen Wire: UK designers have two more days to take part in a government survey aimed at improving intellectual property laws. More -
New Zealand pop-up container mall accused of copying
Dezeen Wire: a pop-up shopping mall in earthquake-hit Christchurch, New Zealand, made from renovated shipping containers is being threatened with legal action by a British developer for copyright infringement - Stuff.co.nzThe owners of Boxpark, a development in London that will be open over the Christmas period and claims to be "the world's 1st pop-up mall," have accused Christchurch's City Mall of copying their container pop-up format but City Mall have responded by saying that the ideas do not look alike and that their project, which reopened on Saturday, was completed first.