Rules made by F1the Secretary of State under this Act may specify the hour at which the Patent Office shall be deemed to be closed on any day for purposes of the transaction by the public of business under this Act or of any class of such business, and may specify days as excluded days for any such purposes.

Any business done under this Act on any day after the hour specified as aforesaid in relation to business of that class, or on a day which is an excluded day in relation to business of that class, shall be deemed to have been done on the next following day not being an excluded day; and where the time for doing anything under this Act expires on an excluded day, that time shall be extended to the next following day not being an excluded day.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Nothing in this Act shall affect the right of the Crown or of any person deriving title directly or indirectly from the Crown to sell or use F5products forfeited under the laws relating to customs or excise.

In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned by them, that is to say

• F6F10 “ Appeal Tribunal ” means the Appeal Tribunal constituted and acting in accordance with section 28 of this Act as amended by the M2 Administration of Justice Act 1969;

• F7. . .

• F7. . .

• “assignee” includes the personal representative of a deceased assignee, and references to the assignee of any person include references to the assignee of the personal representative or assignee of that person;

• F8 “ author ”in relation to a design, has the meaning given by section 2(3) and (4);

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F9

• F7. . .

• F10 “ the court ” shall be construed in accordance with section 27 of this Act;

• F32“Community Design Regulation” means Council Regulation (EC) 6/2002 of 12th December 2001 on Community Designs;

• F11“complex product” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1(3) of this Act;

• “design” has the meaning assigned to it by F12F13section 1(2) of this Act;

• F14 “ employee ”, “ employment ”, and “ employer ” refer to employment under a contract of service or of apprenticeship,

• F11“national unregistered design right” means design right within the meaning of Part III of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988;

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F15

• “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made by F16the Secretary of State under this Act;

• F11“product” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1(3) of this Act;

• “proprietor” has the meaning assigned to it by section two of this Act;

• F32“registered Community design” means a design that complies with the conditions contained in, and is registered in the manner provided for in, the Community Design Regulation;

• “registered proprietor” means the person or persons for the time being entered in the register of designs as proprietor of the design;

• “registrar” means the Comptroller-General of Patents Designs and Trade Marks;

• F7. . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

For the purposes of subsection (1) of F18section 14 of this Act, the expression “personal representative”, in relation to a deceased person, includes the legal representative of the deceased appointed in any country outside the United Kingdom.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F19

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F19

The expression “injunction” means “interdict”; the expression “arbitrator” means “arbiter”; the expression “plaintiff” means “pursuer”; the expression “defendant” means “defender”.

References to the Crown shall be construed as including references to the Crown in right of the Scottish Administration.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F21

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F21

References to enactments include enactments comprised in Northern Ireland legislation:

References to the Crown include the Crown in right of Her Majesty’s Government in Northern Ireland:

References to a Government department shall be construed as including references to F24a Northern Ireland departmentF25and in relation to a Northern Ireland department references to the Treasury shall be construed as references to the Department of Finance and Personnel:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F26

For the purposes of this Act the territorial waters of the United Kingdom shall be treated as part of the United Kingdom.

This Act applies to things done in the United Kingdom sector of the continental shelf on a structure or vessel which is present there for purposes directly connected with the exploration of the sea bed or subsoil or the exploitation of their natural resources as it applies to things done in the United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom sector of the continental shelf means the areas designated by order under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F29

Subject to the provisions of this section, any Order in Council, rule, order, requirement, certificate, notice, decision, direction, authorisation, consent, application, request or thing made, issued, given or done under any enactment repealed by this Act shall, if in force at the commencement of this Act, and so far as it could have been made, issued, given or done under this Act, continue in force and have effect as if made, issued, given or done under the corresponding enactment of this Act.

Any register kept under the M3Patents and Designs Act 1907, shall be deemed to form part of the corresponding register under this Act.

Any design registered before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to be registered under this Act in respect of articles of the class in which it is registered.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Any document referring to any enactment repealed by this Act shall be construed as referring to the corresponding enactment of this Act.

Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this section shall be taken as prejudicing the operation of F31section 16(1) and section 17(2)(a) of the M4Interpretation Act 1978, (which F31relate to the effect of repeals).

This Act may be cited as the Registered Designs Act 1949.

This Act shall come into operation on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and fifty, immediately after the coming into operation of the M5Patents and Designs Act 1949.