Registered Designs Act 2000 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 3 · Rights in Registered Designs
39. General restriction on recovery of damages or profits
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In infringement proceedings, the Court must not award damages, nor make an order for an account of profits, against a defendant who proves that at the date of the infringement the defendant was not aware, and had no reasonable grounds for believing, that the design in question was registered.
For the purposes of subsection (1), a person is not to be taken to have been aware, or to have had reasonable grounds for believing, that the design was registered by reason only of the application to an article, a non‑physical product, or a device for projecting a non‑physical product, or to any printed matter accompanying an article, a non‑physical product, or a device for projecting a non‑physical product, of the word “registered”, or any word or words or abbreviation expressing or implying that the design has been registered, unless the registration number of the design accompanied the word or words or abbreviation.
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;