News: Designers still at risk under new UK copyright law, warns intellectual property lawyer

Recent changes to UK copyright law might not give furniture designers the protections they expect.
The changes – which extend copyright for industrial design from 25 years after an item is first marketed to 70 years from the death of the creator – were considered a win for UK designers and brands whose products were replicated.
To qualify, designers will need to prove their product is "a work of artistic craftsmanship", a criteria for which there is no statutory definition. It is up to courts to decide individual cases based on past precedent.
This means pieces like the widely copied DSW Plastic Chair by Charles and Ray Eames – advocates for democratic, affordable design – might not be protected from copying.
The UK government has repealed section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This brings the country – once derided as "a Trojan Horse for the importation of copies into Europe" – into line with the rest of the EU, which has longer-lasting copyright protections.
While the future of the laws may be uncertain following June's Brexit vote, for the time being UK copyright protections for industrial design have been broadened.
Section 52 previously exempted industrially manufactured pieces from the protections afforded to artistic works. Now designers are not explicitly exempt but instead need to prove their work actually is "artistic".
Where there is a real prospect the design would qualify as a work of artistic craftsmanship.
In addition, in light of the relevance of what may have been in the mind of the designer when they created the design, it would be prudent for designers and businesses to prepare such statements now for future use in the fight against copyists.

Read all at dezeen.com

The Eames DWS chair by Charles and Ray Eames (1950) is one of the most widely copied furniture designs.

A maker of miniature midcentury furniture talks all things tiny

Chicago-based designer Michael Yurkovic combines two of Curbed’s favorite things: Midcentury modern furniture, and tiny things. Yurkovic handcrafts 1/12-scale replicas of iconic designs like Charles and Ray Eames’ shell chair and Eero Saarinen’s tulip chair—as well as staged room boxes—that are so detailed and faithful to the original that it’s hard to believe, at least when seen in photographs, that they’re miniature.
Yurkovic, like many children, got his start building model airplanes and cars with his father. This led him to a career in industrial design, where he worked on consumer electronic products like telephones, then a stint in toy consultancy, both of which required a lot of model-making.
Then about two and a half years ago, after having dabbled in midcentury modern furniture restoring and further developing his hand skills, he walked into his first miniature show and noticed that there was an incredible void in the market for midcentury modern design. Everything was Victorian or otherwise traditional. “I didn't quite know exactly how I would do it, but I knew I could,” Yurkovic recalled. “So I walked out of that show and dove straight into miniature, just full time midcentury modeling.”

Curbed.com spokes to Yurkovic about his design process, why he thinks people are gaga for everything tiny (and midcentury modern), and how it all might fit within the context of the tiny house movement.
Why were you drawn to midcentury modern design?
I naturally gravitated towards the midcentury modern era because I thought it was all so exciting. There was new technology and new materials and processes, and just a whole new optimistic culture was going on then, bringing a whole fresh perspective to what furniture, as well as other things, could be. The furniture also really made it's way into pop culture in a big way. I like the clean lines, the purity of form. And because it's non decorative and so minimal, usually, the real devil is in the details. There's not all this spare ornamentation, so you can see how an arm is attached to a side of a chair, or the exact curvature of a molded shell. All those things were really carefully considered and that really appealed to me, and I think really challenged designers at the time /.../.

Read all at: curbed.com

Thanks curbed.com for sharing.

San Francisco International Airport hosts new exhibition "A Modern Approach: Mid-Century Design"

"A Modern Approach: Mid-Century Design" is an exhibition located in the International Terminal Main Hall Departures Lobby, San Francisco International Airport. The exhibition is accessible to all airport visitors from August 27, 2016 to April 9, 2017.

The online version of the exhibition is viewable at: www.flysfo.com/museum/exhibitions/modern-approach-mid-century-design.

This exhibit presents a sampling of modern design from the 1930s to the 1960s through examples of mid-century studio art, graphic design, and manufactured goods.

Mid-twentieth-century modern design balanced expression with efficiency and utility. Geared towards everyday living, modern design redefined housewares, furniture, and decorative arts. The form of each object followed its function, with innovative construction methods finished in natural tones and bold colors. Working in the spirit of their time, mid-century designers created items that lent style and comfort to the necessities of modern life. By the early 1950s, the most distinctive American furniture and decorative arts expressed a refined modern design, celebrated by "Arts & Architecture" magazine and in museum exhibitions.
Mid-century designers announced the modern era through the clear and concise use of new materials such as plastic, aluminum, and molded plywood. Charles and Ray Eames implemented the brilliance of good design on the greatest scale, with more than two million of their fiberglass chairs sold through Herman Miller by 1966. On the other end of the spectrum, art and design converged in unique artisan and craft items to personalize modern interiors. Overall, mid-century designers introduced a multitude of new products for modern living, and their best designs stood effortlessly on their own or harmoniously within a group. 

Source www.flysfo.com with thanks.

Blast from the past: a look inside Polaroid’s SX-70 instant film camera

In 1972, Polaroid shared with the world its latest creation — the Polaroid SX–70 instant film camera. Designed by Polaroid co-founder and inventor Edwin Land, the SX–70 at that time received quite the introduction with a wonderfully produced video created by none other than Charles and Ray Eames.
At roughly eleven minutes long, the film breaks down every detail of the camera, using footage and animated graphics to show how the iconic single lens reflex Land camera was meant to be used.
Unlike the vague teaser videos we’re used to seeing nowadays for products, this commissioned video breaks down everything the SX–70 is capable of and does so with impressive video production values that echoes the mid-century aesthetic associated with Charles and Ray.
From the simple steps it takes to open the camera to the ingenious design that enabled it to collapse down into the size of a few deck of cards, the video manages to simplify the impressive engineering feats that made instant images possible.
The film was originally shown at a Polaroid stockholders meeting and later used as a marketing tool. It was the first of four films Charles and Ray Eames made in collaboration with Polaroid and it went on to win a Bronze Plaque at the Columbus International Film Festival in 1975.
As brilliant as the film is, it now only serves as a sad reminder of what once was. Once on the bleeding edge of photographic technology, Polaroid has now been turned into little more than a name and logo that anyone can slap on a product if they’re willing to shell out enough money in hopes of making a little profit off a brand name that has long since left its glory days behind.

Source www.digitaltrends.com/ with thanks.