Designs Act, 1993 (Act No. 195 of 1993)20. Effect of registration of design |
| (1) | The effect of the registration of a design shall be to grant to the registered proprietor in the Republic, subject to the provisions of this Act, for the duration of the registration the right to exclude other persons from the making, importing, using or disposing of any article included in the class in which the design is registered and embodying the registered design or a design not substantially different from the registered design, so that he shall have and enjoy the whole profit and advantage accruing by reason of the registration. |
| (2) | The disposing of an article embodying a registered design by or on behalf of a registered proprietor or his licensee shall give the purchaser the right to use and dispose of that article. |
| (3) | Notwithstanding subsection (1), the rights of the registered proprietor of a registered design in the form of an integrated circuit topography shall not be infringed by a person who— |
| (a) | makes an article embodying the registered design or a design not substantially different from the registered design, for private purposes or for the sole purpose of evaluation, analysis, research or teaching; |
| (b) | imports or disposes of an integrated circuit embodying theregistered design which has been unlawfully produced or an article incorporating such an integrated circuit and proves that at the time of acquiring the integrated circuit or article he or she was not aware and had no reasonable grounds of becoming aware that the integrated circuit or article embodied a registered design which had been unlawfully produced: Provided that when the person receives sufficient notice that the registered design was unlawfully produced, the person may dispose of any stock of such integrated circuits or articles but shall be liable to pay to the registered proprietor a sum calculated on the basis of a reasonable royalty which would have been payable by a licensee or sub-licensee in respect of the registered design concerned. |
[Sub-section (3) added by section 73 of Act No. 38 of 1997.]