HL Deb 02 November 1988 vol 501 cc340-1

245 Clause 248, page 108, line 36, leave out '249' and insert '(Provisions with respect to certain designs registered in pursuance of application made before commencement.)'

246 Leave out Clause 249 and insert the following new Clause—

'Provisions with respect to certain designs registered in pursuance of application made before commencement.

.—(1) Where a design is registered under the Registered Designs Act 1949 in pursuance of an application made after 12th January 1988 and before the commencement of this Part which could not have been registered under section 1 of that Act as substituted by section 248 above—

  1. (a) the right in the registered design expires ten years after the commencement of this Part, if it does not expire earlier in accordance with the 1949 Act, and
  2. (b) any person is, after the commencement of this Part, entitled as of right to a licence to do anything which would otherwise infringe the right in the registered design.

(2) The terms of a licence available by virtue of this section shall, in default of agreement, be settled by the registrar on an application by the person requiring the licence; and the terms so settled shall authorise the licensee to do everything which would be an infringement of the right in the registered design in the absence of a licence.

(3) In settling the terms of a licence the registrar shall have regard to such factors as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State by order made by statutory instrument.

No such order shall be made unless a draft of it has been laid before and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

(4) Where the terms of a licence are settled by the registrar, the licence has effect from the date on which the application to the registrar was made.

(5) Section 11B of the 1949 Act (Undertaking to take licence of right in infringement proceedings), as inserted by section (Powers exercisable for protection of the public interest) below, applies where a licence is available as of right under this section, as it applies where a licence is available as of right under section 11A of that Act.

(6) Where a licence is available as of right under this section, a person to whom a licence was granted before the commencement of this Part may apply to the registrar for an order adjusting the terms of that licence.

(7) An appeal lies from any decision of the registrar under this section.

(8) This section shall be construed as one with the Registered Designs Act 1949.'.

Lord Strathclyde

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 245 and 246. These amendments concern Clause 249, which provides a transition by curtailing the rights in existing design registrations which could not have been registered under the Bill. However the amendments will mean that the curtailment of existing rights will affect only those registrations which were applied for after 12th January 1988—this being the date on which the proposals to curtail existing rights took their present form as a result of an amendment in your Lordship's House. I beg to move.

Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 245 and 246.—(Lord Strathclyde.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.