ACID (Anti Copying in Design) has announced the launch of ACID Marketplace - a safer online IP platform, through which buyers can view the latest designs created by ACID members, who are supported by an enhanced ACID Design Databank and tracking system developed from ACID's IP Tracker.
Each year, ACID receives between 18,000 and 25,000 individual designs to be logged onto its Design Databank. The date on which the designs are received is recorded and, up until now, the designs have remained confidential. However, members now have the option of inviting buyers to view their designs by displaying them on ACID Marketplace.
Potential design buyers need to register to access ACID Marketplace, and are invited to agree to abide by the ACID Design Buyer Charter in support of British original designers. ACID members may openly display their designs online to be viewed, with the safety of knowing they have first been recorded through the ACID Design Databank to secure third-party independent evidence of the designs' existence.
Minister for Intellectual Property, Lord Younger says: "The design sector is a really important part of the UK's creative economy, with nearly £16b invested in designs each year. ACID has shown real initiative in taking this bold step to develop the ACID Marketplace. This will now mean that people are going to better understand the value of designs, and it will also help our world-class designers to market and sell their innovative creations."
Dids Macdonald, ACID's CEO adds: "This opens up all sorts of exciting, intellectual property trading opportunities – such as licensing deals, design commissions and collaborations.? ACID Marketplace, in addition, provides a safer online platform for innovative companies to market their new designs, together with the benefit of tracking to record design viewings by potential design buyers. ACID Marketplace will be a positive conduit for the brokering and exchange of intellectual property rights."
The launch of ACID Marketplace is welcomed by a plethora of designers, including Lee Broom: "As a company which strives to bring original and exclusive British design to the global marketplace, we are delighted to support ACID's new system launch. Not only does it secure evidence of the creator's ownership, but expands the availability of intelligent ideas to the market and encourages greater access to suitable buyers. I hope the entire industry will support this important endeavour."
