In summer 2014 the IPO consulted on proposed secondary legislation, namely a statutory instrument (SI), to implement the UPC Agreement into UK domestic legislation. The IP Fed­eration responded to that consultation (see Policy Paper 9/14), providing general com­ments in three key areas, namely (1) Jurisdiction (UK alignment, transitional provisions, IPO Opinions service), (2) Unitary Patent (threats and double patenting), and (3) Infringement Exceptions (specifically software interoperability, Article 27(k) UPCA).

Unregistered Design Right (UDR) was introduced by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This sui generis right was created as a means of providing protection for purely functional designs which were first embodied in a design document or an actual article on or after 1 August 1989. 

This trade mark issue has received much attention in the Press, although it is not one on which the Federation has taken a position.

The damage to health caused by smoking is of concern to governments. It is obviously quite impractical for most governments to ban tobacco products (a point of legal consequence discussed below). However, governments do interfere with the way tobacco products are marketed to the general public in the hope of reducing consumption. In England, supermarkets no longer display the packets of tobacco products openly; they are behind a screen, so that customers have to know what to ask for. And in many countries, the packets bear health warnings, some including shocking medical pictures.