Q.Imagine that an electronics company produces portable Bluetooth speakers shaped like a small cupcake keyring. How can it stop people from copying its design?

The company can protect the distinctive shape and appearance of its speaker by registering it as an industrial design under intellectual property law. …

To stop people from copying the appearance of its cupcake-shaped Bluetooth speaker, the company should use intellectual property protection:

1. Register the design. A design protects the aesthetics or 'look and feel' of a product — its eye-catching, non-functional features. The novel cupcake-keyring shape is exactly such a feature. Once registered (the requirement being new and original features not previously used), the company gets the exclusive right to that design, protected for ten years and renewable for a further five, and can take legal action against imitators. …