LAWS OF MALAWI
Registered Designs
5.
6.
Registered Designs
Cap. 49:05
(a)
a Registrar of Designs who shall exercise the powers and perform the duties assigned to
the Registrar by this Act and shall be responsible for its administration; and
(b)
one or more Deputy Registrars of Designs who shall, subject to the control of the
Registrar, have all the powers conferred by this Act upon the Registrar; and
(c)
such examiners and other officers as the Minister may consider necessary for carrying
out this Act.
The seal of the Patent Office kept in terms of the Patents Act shall also be the seal of the Designs
Office, and impressions thereof made for the purposes of this Act shall be judicially noticed
Seal Cap. 49:02
(1)
There shall be kept at the Designs Office for the purposes of this Act a register of
designs wherein shall be entered all registered designs with the names and addressed of their
proprietors, notifications of assignments and transmissions, and such other matters relating to
Register of Designs
registered designs as may be prescribed or as the Registrar may think fit.
(2)
Subject to this Act, the register of designs shall, at all convenient times, be open to
inspection by the public, and certified copies, sealed with the seal of the Patent Office,
of nay entry in the register shall be given to any person requiring them on payment of
Register of Designs
the prescribed fee.
(3)
The register of designs shall be prima facie evidence of nay matters required or
authorized by or under tins Act to be entered herein.
(4)
No notice of any trust, whether expressed, implied or constructive, shall be entered in
the register, and the Registrar shall not be affected by any notice.
PART II
REGISTRABLE DESIGNS AND PROCEEDINGS FOR REGISTRATION
7.
(1)
Subject to the following provisions of this section, a design may, upon application made
by the person claiming to be the proprietor, his assignee or legal representative, be registered
Designs registrable
under this Act in respect of any article or set of articles specified in the application.
under Act
7.
(2)
Subject to this Act, a design shall not be registered thereunder unless it is new or original
and in particular shall not be so registered in respect of any article if it is the same as a
design which before the date of the application for registration appears on the register or
has been published in Malawi in respect of the same or any other article or differs from
such a design only in immaterial details or in features which are variants commonly used
in trade.
(3)
Regulations made by the Minister under this Act may provide for excluding from
registration thereunder designs for such articles, being articles which are primarily
literary or artistic in character, as the Minister thinks fit.
(1)
A design registered under the Protocol shall, subject to the provisions of the Protocol,
Designs registered
have effect in Malawi as if it were a design registered under this Act.
under the Protocol
9 of 1985
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