opted to interact with the shape of the suitcase, while its flanks and front adorned with no imagery. Therefore, the Court of Appeal held the community-registered design was ‘clearly intended to create the impression of a animal’ . Similar approach taken in Samsung, the surface decoration of the alleged infringing product was relevant to overall impression. The law on the absence of ornamentation developed significantly since the Samsung case, where Jacob LJ affirms that if the absence of ornamentation is ‘contended and undisputed’ as an important obdurate feature of a design, the surface decoration would not be considered by the informed user . This principle has been expanded in Magmatic, the current rule is, if the surface decoration on a registered design influence the overall impression created by the shape of the product, the surface decoration on the alleged infringement could be relevant.

Colour Contrast

The Supreme Court held it is not just the shape included by Magmatic’s CRD, but the shape in association with a particular tonal contrast, so the colour contrast adopted in the designs should be included in the comparison of overall impression. It is another factor that largely narrowed the scope of protection conferred by the registered design.

Novelty and individual character

The validity of a registered design is subject to conditions of novelty and individual character . Although the Magmatic’s CRD was found valid by the Supreme Court, the scope of protection

Judicial development of UK RD, with the intension to incentivise innovation

The creation of design law was to incentivize innovation . A number of statues enacted in the early 19th century intended to grant property right to mental labour, it is one of the most distinctive characteristics of modern intellectual property law. Calico Printer’s Act of 1787 is the first statue conferring explicit legal protection to design, as to encourage the arts of textile design and printing. Section 1 of the Calico Printer’s Act of 1787, provided every person ‘who shall invent, design, and print… any new and original Pattern or Patterns… for printing Linens, Cottons, Calicos, or Muslins’ with the right to produce the same design for the term of two months. Legal measures were adopted to induce a better legal environment, giving designers and innovator confidences to bring out more good designs, knowing that their IP right to the products are sufficiently protected. Kusamitsu explains that the scope of design protectio