Designs Act, 1993 (Act No. 195 of 1993)1. Definitions |
| (1) | In this Act, unless the context otherwise indicates— |
means any design applied to any article, whether for the pattern or the shape or the configuration or the ornamentation thereof, or for any two or more of those purposes, and by whatever means it is applied, having features which appeal to and are judged solely by the eye, irrespective of the aesthetic quality thereof;
means a patent agent referred to in section 20 of the Patents Act, 1978 (Act No. 57 of 1978), or an attorney;
includes the legal representative of a deceased applicant or of an applicant who is a person under legal disability;
means any article of manufacture and includes a part of such article if manufactured separately;
includes the personal representative of a cessionary, and any reference to the cessionary of any person shall be construed as including a reference to the cessionary of the personal representative of that person;
means any country or group of countries in respect of which there is in force a proclamation in terms of section 43 declaring such country or group of countries to be a convention country or convention countries for the purposes of this Act;
in relation to any matter, means the division of the Supreme Court of South Africa having jurisdiction in respect of that matter;
means—
| (a) | in relation to an application made in terms of section 44, the date on which the application in respect of the relevant design was lodged in the convention country concerned; and |
| (b) | in relation to any other application, the date on which the application was lodged at the designs office; |
means an or a functional design;
means the designs office referred to in section 4;
means any design applied to any article, whether for the pattern or the shape or the configuration thereof, or for any two or more of those purposes, and by whatever means it is applied, having features which are necessitated by the function which the article to which the design is applied, is to perform, and includes an integrated circuit topography, a mask work and a series of mask works;
means an article, in final or intermediate form, containing electrical, electromagnetic or optical elements and circuitry, which is capable of performing an electrical or an optical function, and in which at least a part of the electrical, electromagnetic or optical elements and circuitry are integrally formed, in accordance with a predetermined topography, in a semiconductor material;
means a functional design which consists of the pattern, shape or configuration of the three-dimensional disposition of the electrical, electromagnetic or optical elements and circuitry of an integrated circuit;
means the patent journal published in terms of section 14 of the Patents Act, 1978 (Act No. 57 of 1978);
means a functional design which consists of a pattern of an image however fixed or encoded, having or representing at least a part of an integrated circuit;
means the Minister of Trade and Industry;
[Definition deleted by section 69 of Act No. 38 of 1997.]
means prescribed by regulation;
in relation to a design, means—
| (a) | the author of the design; or |
| (b) | where the author of the design executes the work for another person, the other person for whom the work is so executed; or |
| (c) | where a person, or his employee acting in the course of his employment, makes a design for another person in terms of an agreement, such other person; or |
| (d) | where the ownership in the design has passed to any other person, such other person; |
means the register of designs kept at the designs office in terms of section 7;
means the person whose name is for the time being entered in the register as the proprietor of the design;
means the registrar of designs appointed or deemed to have been appointed under section 6;
means any regulation made under this Act;
in relation to a design, means the date on which the design was first made available to the public (whether in the Republic or elsewhere) with the consent of the proprietor or any predecessor in
title;
means a related group of mask works which together represent the three-dimensional disposition of the electrical, electromagnetic or optical elements and circuitry of an integrated circuit;
means the Designs Act, 1967 (Act No. 57 of 1967);
includes the regulations.
| (2) | Any reference in this Act to an article shall be deemed, according to the context, to be a reference to— |
| (a) | a set of articles; or |
| (b) | each article which forms part of the set of articles; or |
| (c) | both a set of articles and each article which forms part of that set. |
| (3) | For the purposes of this Act, a “set of articles” means a number of articles of the same general character which are ordinarily on sale together or intended to be used together, and in respect of which the same design, or the same design with modifications or variations not sufficient to alter the character of the articles or substantially affect the identity thereof, is applied to each separate article: Provided that a series of mask works shall not be a set of articles. |
| (4) | Any question arising under this Act as to whether a number of articles constitute a set of articles shall be determined by the registrar. |