Commentary Part 1: DESIGNS Section 2: Ownership of unregistered designs
13.Subsection (1) changes the initial ownership of unregistered designs which have been created on commission from a third party, by amending section 215 of the CDPA. This means that, in the absence of a contract to the contrary, the designer will be the initial owner of the design, not the person who commissioned it. This brings UK law into line with the EU Regulation. It removes the situation in which a UK right is automatically owned by whoever commissioned the design, and an EU right (which includes the UK in its scope) is instead automatically owned by the designer. It brings UK design law into line with UK copyright law, and means that the initial ownership of closely related rights will no longer end up with different parties.
14.Subsection (2) amends other parts of the CDPA to make sure that they are all consistent in their treatment of commissioned designs. This section is consistent with changes being made to registered designs by section 6(1).