Copying of Australian Design

Australian designers are being exploited by flaws in Intellectual Property and Copyrighting legislation. NAVA is working with partner organisations to highlight the threat to Australian designers particularly by replica furniture and lighting traders.

Introduction

In Australia, a designer must pay to register a designed object with Intellectual Property (IP) Australia. The registered design is valid for 5 years and can be renewed for another 5 years.

In other western countries, IP is valid for 50-75 years, so that designers get the benefits from their own work during their lifetime.

In the UK, a new copyright protection law will make it illegal to manufacture or sell copies of mass-produced designs. Herman Miller worked with the UK government to improve the intellectual property framework, and design registration of the product is now free. The UK also recognised it had gaps in design protection – only 25 years versus Europe for 75 years or for the life of the designer - and this was impacting on the UK design industry.

NAVA's Position

In Australia, compensation for design infringements is small and is a disincentive for design registration when weighed against the cost of registering a design.

Replica furniture and lighting may provide a clear label describing the product and naming the designer, but they do not currently require permission from the original Australian designer. Intellectual property ownership and copyright are being openly ignored.

Whilst this is NAVA's primary concern, we are equally aware of the environmental impacts and safety issues caused by the manufacturing of these items.

There is some review work being done at Federal Government level into design registration legislation. In the meantime, NAVA is working with partner organisations to highlight the threat of replica furniture and lighting traders to Australian designers.