BHETA is campaigning for a UK design rights system that gives businesses practical, affordable protection against product copying – particularly small and medium-sized suppliers that do not have the resources for lengthy and expensive legal action.
In November 2025, BHETA submitted a comprehensive response to the Intellectual Property Office's consultation on reform of the UK designs framework, representing the interests of suppliers across the housewares, small electrical, DIY and garden sectors.
BHETA is calling for reform that makes it easier for businesses to protect their intellectual property, challenge copying and enforce their rights – without creating additional cost and complexity for SMEs.
The challenge facing product suppliers
Product design is a major source of competitive advantage for many BHETA members.
Businesses invest significant time and money developing new products, shapes, finishes, packaging and other distinctive design features. Successful products can then be copied rapidly, increasingly by overseas manufacturers and sellers able to bring similar products to market through online marketplaces.
While design rights can provide important protection, having a legal right and being able to enforce it are not always the same thing.
For smaller businesses in particular, the cost and complexity of pursuing an infringement claim can make legal action commercially unrealistic.
The growth of international ecommerce and online marketplaces has added another dimension to the problem, enabling copied products to reach UK customers rapidly and making enforcement against overseas suppliers more difficult.
Developments in artificial intelligence also raise new questions about how designs are created, copied and protected.
BHETA believes the UK's design rights framework needs to respond to these changes while remaining affordable, understandable and practical for ordinary businesses to use.
Government proposes major reform of UK design rights
In September 2025, the Government launched a wide-ranging consultation on the future of the UK's designs framework.
The Intellectual Property Office recognised that the current system can be complex, particularly for small businesses, and sought views on reforms intended to make design protection simpler, more accessible and better suited to a digital economy.
The proposals covered areas including:
- Registered design examination
- Unregistered design rights
- Enforcement and access to justice
- Computer-generated and AI-assisted designs
- Protection for digital and animated designs
- Post-Brexit design rights
- Potential criminal sanctions for design infringement
- Whether design disputes should be brought within the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court small claims track
For BHETA members, the consultation represented an important opportunity to influence how product designs will be protected in future.
BHETA represents members' interests
BHETA submitted its detailed response to the Intellectual Property Office in November 2025.
The response focused particularly on the practical experience of SMEs and businesses whose products can be vulnerable to copying by competitors and third-party overseas suppliers.
BHETA also worked with specialist intellectual property and anti-copying organisation ACID – Anti Copying in Design to ensure that the concerns of design-led businesses were reflected in the consultation process.
READ BHETA'S CONSULTATION RESPONSE
What BHETA is asking Government to do
BHETA's submission focused on five key priorities.
1. Make enforcement affordable for SMEs
BHETA supports allowing appropriate registered design disputes to be dealt with through the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court small claims track.
For many smaller companies, the cost of taking conventional legal action can outweigh the value of pursuing an infringement.
A more accessible enforcement route could make design rights considerably more valuable in practice.
2. Protect unregistered design rights
Many businesses rely on unregistered design protection, particularly where they launch large numbers of products and registering every individual design would be impractical or expensive.
BHETA has urged Government to ensure that any simplification or consolidation of unregistered rights does not inadvertently reduce the level of protection currently available to businesses.
3. Tackle overseas and online copying
Product copying increasingly crosses international borders.
BHETA members can find themselves competing against imitation products manufactured overseas and sold directly into the UK through ecommerce platforms and online marketplaces.
BHETA has therefore called for design reform to be supported by practical enforcement mechanisms, including effective marketplace takedown procedures and appropriate action at the border.
4. Provide clarity on AI-generated designs
Artificial intelligence is changing how products and designs can be created.
BHETA believes future legislation needs to provide clear rules around the ownership and protection of AI-assisted designs, while ensuring that the law continues to protect genuine investment in human creativity and product development.
5. Make the system understandable for SMEs
Even a simplified legal framework will be of limited value if smaller businesses do not understand how to use it.
BHETA has asked the Intellectual Property Office to provide clear, practical guidance aimed specifically at SMEs and to work with trade associations to improve businesses' understanding of design protection.
BHETA highlights risks within the proposed reforms
BHETA supports the Government's objective of creating a simpler and more effective designs system, but has also highlighted areas where reform could have unintended consequences.
These include:
- More extensive examination increasing the cost or time involved in registering designs
- Changes to unregistered rights inadvertently reducing existing protection
- Shorter protection periods disadvantaging products with long commercial lifecycles
- A supposedly simplified system remaining too difficult for SMEs without specialist intellectual property teams to navigate
BHETA's position is that reform should be judged not simply on whether the legislation becomes simpler, but on whether businesses can realistically use it to protect their products.
Steve Richardson, then BHETA Marketing Director, said reforms must be “practical and enforceable for smaller businesses, not just large brand owners.”
Campaign progress: Government considering consultation responses
The Government consultation closed on 27 November 2025.
The Intellectual Property Office is now considering the responses received as it develops proposals for reform of the UK designs framework.
Further research published by the IPO in March 2026 reinforced many of the issues raised during the consultation, including the complexity of the current system, relatively low understanding of design rights and the prevalence of alleged design infringement.
The Government has indicated that its formal response to the 2025 consultation will be published during 2026.
BHETA will review the Government's proposals when they are published and continue to represent members as the reforms develop.
Protecting members' investment in innovation
Design protection matters because innovation requires investment.
Whether developing cookware, tableware, electrical products, garden equipment, tools, furniture or home improvement products, BHETA members should be able to invest in new product development with confidence that effective mechanisms exist to challenge those who copy their work.
BHETA's role is to make sure Government understands the practical realities faced by suppliers – particularly SMEs – when designing the UK's future intellectual property framework.
Working with members and specialist partners such as ACID, BHETA will continue to champion a design rights regime that encourages innovation while giving businesses practical and affordable ways to protect it.
Has your business experienced product or design copying?
BHETA wants to hear from members about their experience of design infringement, online copying and enforcing intellectual property rights. Member evidence helps us make a stronger case to Government.
