Exploiting your design rights

Your design rights (both registered and unregistered) are items of property.  They can appear as assets on your balance sheet.  You can sell them or even mortgage them.

You can also grant licences under them, allowing other people to use your designs usually in return for a royalty or other type of payment.

Alternatively you may want to use them to protect your own activities, keeping competitors away whilst you establish yourself an exclusive position in the market place.

Remember that if you have protection for a design that others want access to, you can use it as a bargaining chip in all your commercial negotiations.  It can also help you to attract and reassure investors.

Be aware however of the limitations of design rights.  They do not guarantee you a source of income – it's up to you to exploit your designs effectively.  Nor do they guarantee you freedom to use your designs; you could still be infringing the rights in someone else's design even if you've registered your own.  Also, it's up to you to identify, and take legal action against, those who infringe your design rights.  And the validity of your rights can always be challenged, possibly resulting in their loss.