§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. This Bill seeks to consolidate the law relating to registered designs. The Acts to be consolidated are the same as those dealt with in the Patents Bill. The present Bill deals only with the parts of the Acts of 1907 and 1949 which deal with registered designs. Your Lordships will recall that the Departmental Committee on Patents, which sat from 1944 to 1947 under the chairmanship of Sir Kenneth Swan, recommended that the law relating to registered designs should be incorporated in a separate Statute from that dealing with patents. The present Bill seeks to implement that recommendation. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the Bill he now read 2a. —(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Bill read 2a, and referred to the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills.