The Society of British and International Design – SBID – recently launched the SBID Intellectual Property – IP – initiative at the House of Commons event earlier this week to mark a new campaign designed to prevent IP theft within the interior design industry.
The campaign, which has been developed in association with TM-Eye and will kick off in January, aims to assist the industry in obtaining “objective evidence of design ownership”, according to SBID, and will update the “archaic discourse on intellectual property in design”.
The organisation used the event to announce plans to launch an IP register, which “will allow design owners to register their ideas from inception, giving them the confidence and support they need to bring a criminal charge against IP theft”
The program arises from a common problem that plagues the design industry: the theft of ideas included in commercial presentations that are then replicated by other parties without appropriate consent, credit, or compensation. In addition to diluting the brand and business of individual interior designers and their firms, this type of theft can often leave consumers oblivious to the fact that they’ve purchased inferior designs.
By leveraging TM Eye’s existing experience upholding design rights across industries ranging from luxury goods to pharmaceuticals, SBID hopes the initiative can eventually disentangle the issue of design rights from trademark law, which is often a major stumbling block to resolving infringement issues in the interior design space.
With SBID’s awareness campaign set to launch in January and the international register set to launch later in 2018, interior designers are one step closer to having their ideas and creative output enjoy the protected status they deserve.
The Society of British and International Design (SBID) is the professional body registered in the UK to accredit professionals in interior design. In Brussels, at the European Council of Interior Architects (ECIA), they are the British professional body and representative for interior design and also provide the route to market for universal interior design education in the UK through the European Charter of Education.
SBID regulate and promote the interior design profession for their members; maintain the highest educational and professional shared standards; protect clients and consumers via a strict international code of ethics and conduct and provide impartial advice and guidance for our accredited professionals.
SBID also consult around the world to improve and progress the profession of interior design and as outlined in this latest Kitchens Kitchens news item they lobby government for improvement where relevant and intellectual property theft is very relevant to all creative industries and accounts for billions of lost revenue each year for the UK.
