Design Rights

Table of Contents

COPYRIGHT ACT

Acts done under statutory authority.	Designs
	78.—(1) The copyright in a work is not infringed by anything done—
Savings.	(a) pursuant to an assignment or licence made or granted by a person registered under the Act of 1927 the

	Industrial Designs Act,2001⁸⁴ as the proprietor of a corresponding design, and
	(b) in good faith and in reliance on such registration and without notice of any proceedings for the cancellation of the registration or for rectifying the relevant entry in the register of designs.
	(2) In subsection (1) “corresponding design”, in relation to a work, means a design within the meaning of the Act of 1927 the Industrial Designs Act,2001⁸⁵ which, if applied to an article, would produce anything which would be treated for the purposes of this Part as a copy of the work.
	78A.—(1) The copyright in a design document or model recording or embodying a design for anything other than an artistic work or a typeface is not infringed by the making of a product to the design or the copying of a product made to the design.
	(2) The copyright in a design document or a model recording or embodying a design for anything other than an artistic work or a typeface is not infringed by the issue to the public, or the inclusion in a film, broadcast or cable programme service, of anything the making of which is, by virtue of subsection (1), not an infringement of that copyright.
Acts done in reliance on registration of design.	(3) In this section and section 78B—
	‘design’ means the design of any aspect of the shape or contours (whether internal or external) of the whole or part of a product, other than surface decoration;
	‘design document’ means any record of a design, whether in the form of a drawing, a written description, a photograph, storing the work in any medium or otherwise;
	‘product’ means any industrial or handicraft item, including parts intended to be assembled into a complex product, packaging, get- up, graphic symbols and typographical typefaces, but not including computer programmes; and
Design – documents and models.	‘complex product’ means a product which is composed of multiple components which can be replaced permitting disassembly and reassembly of the product.⁸⁶
	78B.—(1) This section applies where an artistic work has been exploited, by or with the authorisation of the copyright owner, by—

⁸⁴ Amended by the Industrial Designs Act, 2001.

⁸⁵ Amended by the Industrial Designs Act, 2001.

⁸⁶ Inserted by the Industrial Designs Act, 2001.

	(a) making by an industrial process products falling to be treated for the purposes of this Part as copies of the work, and
	(b) marketing such products, in the State or elsewhere.
	(2) After the expiry of 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which such products are first marketed, the work may be copied by making products of any description, or doing anything for the purpose of making products of any description, and anything may be done in relation to products so made, without infringing the copyright in the work.
	(3) Where only part of an artistic work is exploited as mentioned in subsection (1), subsection (2) applies only in relation to that part.
	(4) The Minister may prescribe:
Effect of exploitation of design derived from artistic work.	(a) the circumstances in which a product, or any description of product, is to be regarded for the purposes of this section as made by an industrial process;
	(b) the exclusion from the operation of this section such products of a primarily literary or artistic character as the Minister thinks fit.
	(5) In this section references to products do not include films.⁸⁷⁸⁸
	78C. (1) An act to which subsection (2) applies is not an infringement of the copyright in an artistic work if— (a) that act is done pursuant to a contract entered into before the relevant date, and (b) that act, if it were done immediately before the relevant date, would not, by virtue of section 78B, have been such an infringement. (2) An act to which this subsection applies is any of the following acts done, in relation to an artistic work, during the 6 months period immediately following and including the relevant date: (a) the copying of the work; (b) the provision of means for making a copy of the work; (c) the importation into the State of a copy of the work.

⁸⁷ Inserted by the Industrial Designs Act, 2001.

⁸⁸ Repealed by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Law Provisions Act 2019

(3) An act to which subsection (4) applies is not an infringement of the copyright in an artistic work if that act, if it were done on the day immediately before the relevant date, would not, by virtue of section 78B, have been such an infringement.

(4) An act to which this subsection applies is any of the following acts done, in relation to an artistic work, during the 6 months period immediately following and including the relevant date:

(a) the issuing or selling, or renting or lending, to the public of a copy of the work that was made in, or imported into, the State—

(i) before the relevant date, or

(ii) during that 6 months period pursuant to a contract entered into before the relevant date;

(b) the communication to the public of that work in connection with anything done in reliance on paragraph (a).

(5) In this section, ‘relevant date’ means the date referred to in section 1(7) of the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Law Provisions Act 2019⁸⁹.

79.—(1) The making of an object of any description which is in three dimensions shall not be taken to constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work in two dimensions, if the object would not appear, to a person who is not an expert in relation to objects of that description, to be a reproduction of the work.

(2) The act of reproducing an object of any description which is in three dimensions shall not be taken to constitute an infringement of the copyright in a work in two dimensions (other than a work relating to a work of architecture) where—

(a) the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and materials texture or materials⁹⁰ of the product itself or its ornamentation that appear in the work and are applied to the objects, are wholly or substantially functional, and

(b) the object is one of a number, in excess of 50, of identical objects which have been manufactured and made commercially available by the owner of the

⁸⁹ Inserted by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019

⁹⁰ Amended by the Industrial Designs Act, 2001.

Design Rights

COPYRIGHT ACT

Acts done under statutory authority.

Industrial Designs Act,2001⁸⁴ as the proprietor of a corresponding design, and

(b) in good faith and in reliance on such registration and without notice of any proceedings for the cancellation of the registration or for rectifying the relevant entry in the register of designs.

(2) In subsection (1) “corresponding design”, in relation to a work, means a design within the meaning of the Act of 1927 the Industrial Designs Act,2001⁸⁵ which, if applied to an article, would produce anything which would be treated for the purposes of this Part as a copy of the work.

78A.—(1) The copyright in a design document or model recording or embodying a design for anything other than an artistic work or a typeface is not infringed by the making of a product to the design or the copying of a product made to the design.

Acts done in reliance on registration of design.

(3) In this section and section 78B—

‘design’ means the design of any aspect of the shape or contours (whether internal or external) of the whole or part of a product, other than surface decoration;

‘design document’ means any record of a design, whether in the form of a drawing, a written description, a photograph, storing the work in any medium or otherwise;

‘product’ means any industrial or handicraft item, including parts intended to be assembled into a complex product, packaging, get- up, graphic symbols and typographical typefaces, but not including computer programmes; and

Design – documents and models.

Design Rights

COPYRIGHT ACT

Acts done under statutory authority.

Industrial Designs Act,200184 as the proprietor of a corresponding design, and

(b) in good faith and in reliance on such registration and without notice of any proceedings for the cancellation of the registration or for rectifying the relevant entry in the register of designs.

(2) In subsection (1) “corresponding design”, in relation to a work, means a design within the meaning of the Act of 1927 the Industrial Designs Act,200185 which, if applied to an article, would produce anything which would be treated for the purposes of this Part as a copy of the work.

78A.—(1) The copyright in a design document or model recording or embodying a design for anything other than an artistic work or a typeface is not infringed by the making of a product to the design or the copying of a product made to the design.

Acts done in reliance on registration of design.

(3) In this section and section 78B—

‘design’ means the design of any aspect of the shape or contours (whether internal or external) of the whole or part of a product, other than surface decoration;

‘design document’ means any record of a design, whether in the form of a drawing, a written description, a photograph, storing the work in any medium or otherwise;

‘product’ means any industrial or handicraft item, including parts intended to be assembled into a complex product, packaging, get- up, graphic symbols and typographical typefaces, but not including computer programmes; and

Design – documents and models.

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Industrial Designs Act,2001⁸⁴ as the proprietor of a corresponding design, and

(2) In subsection (1) “corresponding design”, in relation to a work, means a design within the meaning of the Act of 1927 the Industrial Designs Act,2001⁸⁵ which, if applied to an article, would produce anything which would be treated for the purposes of this Part as a copy of the work.