Design Evolution and The Law

This book focuses on product design which is evolving conceptually and practically with advances in technology. Product design is no longer solely about product stylization and decoration, but rather about providing a holistic product experience for the consumer. Therefore, in the foreseeable future, product designs will increasingly communicate not only to our eyes, but to our other senses as well. This book examines the frameworks for the protection of product designs in New Zealand and Australia and evaluates the appropriateness of expanding legal mechanisms for the accommodation of product design evolution. The value of more holistic design protection is balanced against other important considerations such as the “right to repair". The book not only anticipates the extent to which product design will cater to senses other than visual, but also provides a novel framework (with reference to industry examples) for discerning originality in such work for the purposes of copyright. This book also makes suggestions for how designs can be protected from foreseeable infringement (analogous to copyright infringement of music and movies on file sharing networks) resulting from future advances in technologies such as 3D printing and virtual reality.