Registration law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Registration law - Essay Example The Lords held that this was a "functional design" (Amp, 1972) which did not "appeal to" nor was it "judged by the eye". The Lords proposed a number of general propositions that have become a part of established precedent: This definition of eye appeal was relaxed in the Gardex Ltd. v. Sorata Ltd. [1986] RPC 623 in which the court held that the design on the underside of a shower tray was not registrable. This, and similar cases, led to the 1988 amendment of the Act that stated that a design could not be registered if the "appearance of the article is not material" (Act, 1988, 1(3)). Thus aesthetic considerations are not normally taken into account to a material extent by persons acquiring or using a product or if the design were applied to the product: that design cannot be registered. The amendment had the important effect of removing from registration protection many everyday household items that would otherwise have been covered on the basis that their design is not solely dictated by function. Essentially, the onus was thus moved to the designer to prove the aesthetic importance of the design over functionality. Thus the Directive was designed not to harmonize all design law perfectly but rather to prevent discrepancies between national provisions that would stifle trade between member states. One of the reasons for the inclusion of the Directive within the 1949 Act is that the latter was seen as inflexible and uncommercial, especially considering the need for eye appeal, which was always rather amorphous and contentious issue. The new requirement is that the design falls within the definition of "design", that the design is new and that design exhibits