Registered Designs Act 2000 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 3 · Rights in Registered Designs
30A. Registration subject to disclaimer
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2022.
An applicant for registration of a design, or the registered owner of a registered design, may disclaim any right in relation to a specified feature of the design.
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;
Where the registration of a design is subject to a disclaimer, the rights given by section 30 are restricted accordingly.
Where an applicant for registration of a design, or the registered owner of a registered design, disclaimed any right in relation to a specified feature of the design —
registered owner
“registered owner”, in relation to a registered design, means the person whose name is for the time being entered in the Register as the owner of the design or, if there are 2 or more such persons, each of those persons;
at any time before 26 May 2022; and
in any application, request or other document that otherwise complied with the requirements of this Act and the rules made under this Act,then —
subsection (1) applies in relation to that disclaimer as if that subsection were in force on the date of the making of the disclaimer; and
subsection (2) applies in relation to the registration of that design and (if the disclaimer was to apply beginning on a date before 26 May 2022) is taken to have always applied in relation to the registration beginning on the date the disclaimer was to begin to apply.
However, nothing in subsection (2A) applies to, or may be construed to affect —
any decision or judgment issued by any court given before 12 September 2022 in relation to that design; or
any proceedings before any court commenced before 12 September 2022 in relation to that design.
The Minister may make rules under section 75 as to the publication and entry in the Register of a disclaimer.