Whatever your discipline, it's important for designers to familiarize themselves with the laws surrounding what we do, and in particular the actual court decisions that have been made in cases such as last year's iPad vs Samsung battle. But if spending hours poring over dry and dusty textbooks doesn't appeal, the International Max Planck Research School is offering a quickly and easy online alternative.
As part of a series of studies concerning the legal protection of designs, the Institute is asking designers around the world to take part in a series of brief hypothetical juror scenarios via this site (opens in new tab). Don't worry, you don't need legal knowledge - they've stripped the cases down to their most basic forms so that they’re easy to follow.
Going further
At the end of the survey, the Institute will email you to let you know how your decisions compared to the actual court outcomes, and provide you with pointers on where you can learn more about other aspects of design law. Your participation will automatically enter you into a lottery to win one of 12 different $100 prizes that you can donate to your favourite design, art, or charity.
Sounds like fun to us. It should take around 10-15 minutes and you can get involved here (opens in new tab).
Like this? Don't forget to check out:
- 2013's essential design events (opens in new tab)
- The best free web fonts for designers
- 101 Photoshop tips, tricks and fixes to try today
