Is my design protected under the Copyright Act?

Your design may be protected by the Copyright Act 1994. In New Zealand, protection for designs may be available through both design registration under the Designs Act and copyright.

Copyright does not need to be registered and protects qualifying original works upon their creation. It provides free automatic protection to a wide variety of works without the need to register.

However, compared to registered rights such as registered designs, the rights and protection provided by copyright may be more limited and the evidence required to show infringement may be high.