her cessionary: Provided that no application shall be made by virtue of this section after the expiry of six months from the date of the application for protection in a convention country or, where more than one such application for protection has been made, from the date of the first application: Provided further that if after the filing of the first application for protection in a convention country in respect of any design or similar right, a subsequent application is filed in that country in respect of the same design or similar right, such subsequent application shall be regarded as the first application in that country in respect of that design or similar right, if at the time of filing thereof— (a) the previous applications had been withdrawn, abandoned or refused without having been open to public inspection; and (b) no priority rights have been claimed on the strength of such previous applications; and (c) no rights are outstanding in the convention country in question in connection with such previous applications. [Sub-s. (1) amended by s. 79 of Act No. 38 of 1997.] (2) An application which has been withdrawn, abandoned or refused shall not after the filing of the subsequent application be capable of supporting a claim for priority rights under this section. (3) A design registered on an application made under this section shall be registered as of the date of the application or, where more than one such application for protection has been made, the date of the first such application or, as the case may be, the date of the application which is regarded as the first such application: Provided that no proceedings shall be instituted in respect of any infringement committed before the date on which the certificate of registration of the design under this Act is issued. (4) Where a person has applied for protection for a design by an application which— (a) in accordance with the terms of a treaty subsisting between two or more convention countries, is equivalent to an application duly made in any one of those convention countries; or (b) in accordance with the laws of any convention country, is equivalent to an application duly made in that convention country, he shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to have applied in that convention country. 45. Extension of time for applications in certain cases. (1) If the Minister is satisfied that provision substantially equivalent to the provision to be made by or under this section has been made or will be made under the law of any convention country, he may, by notice in the Gazette, make regulations empowering the registrar to extend