The Registered Designs Rules 1995

NOVELTY OF DESIGNS

Deemed application date under section 3(4)

34.—(1) For the purpose of deciding whether a design is new the registrar may direct—

(a) that an application for the registration of a design, which has been amended in such a way that the appearance of the design has been altered significantly, shall be treated as having been made on the date on which it was so amended; or

(b) that, where an application for the registration of a design disclosed more than one design and has been amended so as to exclude one or more designs from the application, a subsequent application for the registration of a design so excluded made by the person who made the earlier application or his successor in title shall be treated as having been made on the date on which the earlier application was made or is treated as having been made, provided always that the later application is filed before the end of the period provided by rule 36 below for the completion of the earlier application (including any extension of time allowed under the said rule 36) or the date on which the certificate of registration of the design which is the subject of the earlier application (as amended) is granted, whichever is the earlier.

(2) Nothing in paragraph (1)(a) of this rule shall be taken to limit the discretion of the registrar to decline to accept an amendment of an application for the registration of a design.

Industrial application of designs

35.  A design shall be regarded for the purposes of section 6 as “applied industrially” if it is applied—

(a) to more than fifty articles which do not all together constitute a single set of articles as defined in section 44(1); or

(b) to goods manufactured in lengths or pieces, not being hand-made goods.