Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

215Ownership of design right

(1)The designer is the first owner of any design right in a design which is not created in pursuance of a commission or in the course of employment.

(2)Where a design is created in pursuance of a commission, the person commissioning the design is the first owner of any design right in it.

(3)Where, in a case not falling within subsection (2) a design is created by an employee in the course of his employment, his employer is the first owner of any design right in the design.

(4)If a design qualifies for design right protection by virtue of section 220 (qualification by reference to first marketing of articles made to the design), the above rules do not apply and the person by whom the articles in question are marketed is the first owner of the design right.