The Industrial Design Bill 2001 provides protection for industrial designs that are new and that fall within the definition of industrial designs contained in section 3, which states:
"(1) An industrial design is registrable if it is new.
(2) An industrial design shall be new if it has not been disclosed to the public, anywhere in the world, by publication in tangible form or by use or in any other way, prior to the filing date or, where applicable, the priority date of the application for registration. Section 2(2)(c) shall apply mutatis mutandis.
(3) Industrial designs that are contrary to public order or morality shall not be registrable."
This is consistent with Articles 2 and 26 of the TRIPS Agreement. Section 6 deals with the requirements of an application for registration of an industrial design and is to be supplemented by the Implementing Regulations.
"(1) The application for registration of an industrial design shall be filed with the Registrar and shall contain a request, drawings, photographs or other adequate graphic representations of the article embodying the industrial design and an indication of the kind of products for which the industrial design is to be used.
(2) The application may be accompanied by a specimen of the article embodying the industrial design, where the industrial design is two-dimensional.
(3) Where the applicant is not the creator, the request shall be accompanied by a statement justifying the applicant's right to the registration of the industrial design.
(4) Two or more industrial designs may be the subject of the same application, provided they relate to the same class of the International Classification or to the same set or composition of articles.
(5) The application, at the time of filing, may contain a request that the publication of the industrial design, upon registration, be deferred for a period not exceeding 12 months from the date of filing or, if priority is claimed, from the date of priority, of the application.
(6) The applicant may withdraw the application at any time during its pendency.
(7) The application shall be subject to the payment of the prescribed application fee."
The effect of the grant of an industrial design is to prevent the industrial design from being exploited in the country by persons other than the owner of the registered design, unless the owner agrees to such exploitation. This is spelt out in section 9(1) of the Bill. Subsection 2 lists those acts, the performance of which require the agreement of the owner, and subsections 3 and 4 give the extent of the of the rights conferred under the section:
"(2) For the purposes of this Act, 'exploitation' of a registered industrial design means the making, selling, importing or otherwise distributing, for commercial purposes, articles bearing or embodying a design, which is a copy, or substantially a copy, of the industrial design.
(3) The rights conferred by registration shall not extend to acts in respect of articles, which have been put on the market in Antigua and Barbuda by the registered owner or with his consent.
(4) The owner of a registered industrial design shall, in addition to any other rights, remedies or actions available to him, have the right to institute court proceedings against any person who infringes the registration of the industrial design by performing, without his agreement, any of the acts referred to in subsection (2) or who performs acts which make it likely that infringement will occur."
