In UK Law, copyright is a right that exists automatically. It does not have to be applied for and no registration is necessary to have copyright.
It applies to designs and patterns as well as the written word. In a recent case, the owner of the copyright to an upholstery and furnishing fabric pattern called ' Skye Sage' discovered that a pattern called 'Spring Meadow' was being marketed by another company and alleged that it was an infringement of its copyright.
The two patterns are similar, both involving blocks and lines of the same size and with similar colours being used.
The defendants claimed that they had come up with their design independently and that the makers of Skye Sage had copied their design, so it was not their copyright.
The judge found that Skye Sage was an original pattern and the maker was entitled to claim ownership of the copyright. Spring Meadow was sufficiently similar to infringe that copyright.
Interestingly, the decision also considered the 'ticket stamp' of the respective designs. A ticket stamp is the set of instructions for the weaving equipment which determines the pattern produced. It is also subject to copyright. In its judgment, the court considered the ticket stamps and decided that the point of principle was the appearance of the fabric which use of the ticket stamp would produce. It is therefore an artistic work as well as a literary one, albeit that only an experienced weaver would be able to visualise the pattern from the instructions contained on the ticket stamp.
Both the ticket stamp and the fabric produced by the defendants therefore breached the copyright of the weavers of Skye Sage,