UK plans small claims track for design copying cases

The UK government announced on 4 November 2026 a package of reforms to the designs system, intended to simplify protection and enforcement for the country's 80,000 design businesses, according to the Intellectual Property Office. The IPO said 92% of design businesses are lone designers or microbusinesses, and that the design sector contributed close to £137 billion to the economy in 2023 and supports more than 2 million jobs.

Among the changes, the government said it will take steps to allow registered design cases to be heard in the IPEC Small Claims Track for the first time, a track with compensation claims capped at £10,000. Currently, registered design cases must go through the Patents Court or the IPEC multi-track, which the IPO said can put legal action beyond the reach of those who need it most. The IPO said it will work with designers, legal professionals and business representative groups in the coming months to decide how this change should be taken forward.

The reforms also include a new 30-month deferment period allowing designers to delay making a design public after applying for protection, bringing the UK in line with the EU and the international Hague systems, as well as new powers for the IPO to assess whether a design is genuinely new or has "individual character" before registration, and updated rules clarifying that designs involving animation or movement can qualify for registered design protection, with new filing options for moving image files.