Copyright Aid

Hi,
This is a bit of a long story but I'll try and cover the main points. I saw a device used to lock milk bottles in the office so that no one could steal it. The device used 2 sections which in my opinion was a bit pointless. I used a 3d designer to design a cap that fits on the top of the milk and screws shut. It then has a handle on the other end with a hole so you can feed a padlock through to stop anyone unscrewing the cap.

The thread for the milk bottles is the standard thread used by all commercially available milk bottles so in my view the caps design can't be copyrighted. The handle section is just an add on and I used a wire padlock that I bought from Aliexpress.

I listed it for sale on ebay but got a copyright notice from someone who said they had designed a similar thing in 2019. They sent me a photo of theirs and to be fair to them the caps are very similar. However, mine just uses a padlock and none of the additional locking parts. They've claimed that they copyrighted the thread, shape and size.

I don't want to take away from other people's work but in my view the thread is not something he designed as it's a commercial standard. The size and shape are determined by the size and shape of the bottle caps so really all he's done is what I did and add the handle section. My design doesn't use any of the white locking bits that his uses which I would completely agree had I used then it would infringe his rights. The reason why my car is green is because that's the only food safe 3d printer compatible PLA available on the market. What are people's views on this here? Have I infringed on his rights and if I re-design it with a square top rather than round would this be sufficient?

Hi Fox Man and welcome to the forum.

I don't have time this morning to answer your question in full so this is just a quick response.

First of all there is no copyright involved here. Both yours and the other maker's devices lack any intent to be artistic works and so they don't attract copyright.

What possibly may apply here is design right. This operates in a different way to copyright. There are two varieties of design right: Unregistered and registered. As the terms imply you, or more to the point, the other supplier would have needed to register their design in order to get full protection. And they would have needed to register it in the UK You can read more on this subject here. Design right covers the appearance of the object or device, not its function. And you are right that the thread on the bottle and consequently the internal thread on the device cannot be subject to protection under design right rules because it performs a practical function in order that the device can be fitted to the bottle.

The other kind of protection which might have applied is if the maker of the device had applied for a patent. You haven't mentioned this and so I am assuming that this is not the case here. However if you want to read up on the protection afforded to a patented device, see this article: Patent office