Many businesses erroneously assume that registered designs only apply to 3D physical objects, e.g. chairs, bottles, packaging, or consumer electronics. But UK and EU design law explicitly allows protection for 2D graphical elements.
This includes:
- App interfaces (GUI layouts, dashboards, screens)
- Icons
- Graphical symbols
- Animations and transitions
- Loading screens
- Digital control panels
- AR/VR elements
For companies whose products are not primarily physical, this can be a game‑changer.
Example: Pharma Companies with Patient‑Support Apps
Pharmaceutical and life‑science companies increasingly provide companion mobile apps for things such as drug‑dosage reminders, patient monitoring or symptom tracking.
Even though the core business is not digital design, these apps may include distinctive icons for pill tracking, unique colour schemes conveying medical information, signature animations for progress or symptom timelines, proprietary graphical dashboards.
All of these may be registrable as UK and EU design registrations.
Yet many such companies overlook this, leaving visually distinctive digital elements unprotected and vulnerable to imitation by competitors offering similar digital health tools.
Other Sectors That Benefit From 2D Design Protection
- FinTech – distinctive dashboards, analytics graphics, card‑style interfaces
- Automotive – instrument cluster layouts, EV charging animations
- Gaming – icons, in‑game HUDs, character skill trees
- Smart home / IoT – mobile interfaces controlling devices, icons, animations of energy usage
If your business has an app, a web platform, or any digital customer-facing interface, your IP strategy should include 2D registered designs.
Next up, we look at how designs compliment other IP rights.
Get in touch with us today to talk about your design protection strategy!
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