Registered Designs Act 2000 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 2 · Registration of Designs
28. Right to information
Feedback & supportAfter the registration of a design and upon the filing of a written request by any person in the prescribed manner and the payment of the prescribed fee, the Registrar must —
design
“design” means features of shape, configuration, colours, pattern or ornament applied to any article or non‑physical product that give that article or non‑physical product its appearance, but does not include —(a)a method or principle of construction;(b)features of shape, configuration or colours of an article or a non‑physical product that —(i)are dictated solely by the function that the article or non‑physical product has to perform;(ii)are dependent upon the appearance of another article or non‑physical product of which the article or non‑physical product is intended by the designer to form an integral part; or(iii)enable the article or non‑physical product to be connected to, or placed in, around or against, another article or non‑physical product, so that either article or non‑physical product may perform its function; or(c)features consisting only of one or more colours that —(i)are not used with any feature of shape or configuration; and(ii)do not give rise to any feature of pattern or ornament;
give the person making the request such information; and
permit that person to inspect such documents,relating to the application for registration of the design (including any representation or sample of the design) as may be specified in the request, subject, however, to such conditions as may be prescribed.
Rules may be made empowering the Registrar to refuse any request in respect of such information or documents as may be prescribed.
Registrar
“Registrar” means the Registrar of Designs referred to in section 49 and includes any Deputy Registrar of Designs referred to in that section;
Until notice of registration of a design is published under section 18, any information or documents constituting or relating to the application for registration must not, without the consent of the owner or the applicant (as the case may be), be published or communicated to any person by the Registrar.
application for registration
“application for registration”, in relation to a design, means an application under section 11 for the registration of the design;
Subsection (3) does not prevent the Registrar from publishing or communicating to others any prescribed information relating to an application for registration of a design.
Where a person is notified that an application for registration of a design has been made and that the applicant will, if the design is registered, bring proceedings against that person in the event of that person doing an act specified in the notification, that person may make a request under subsection (1).
The Registrar may grant the request under subsection (1) without the consent of the applicant, even though the design has not been registered.