27APeriod during which registration is in force

##### 27A Period during which registration is in force (1) The registration of a design shall be deemed to have come into force on the date on which the application for registration of the design was lodged under this Act and, subject to this Act, shall cease to be in force on the expiration of a period of 12 months commencing on the date on which the registration was made in the register. (2) Application may be made to the Registrar for an extension of the period of registration of a design referred to in subsection (1). (3) An application under subsection (2): (a) shall be made before the expiration of the period referred to in subsection (1); and (b) shall be made in the prescribed manner. (4) A person may, at any time before the expiration of the period of 11 months commencing on the date on which the registration of a design was made in the register, lodge at the Designs Office a notice, in accordance with a prescribed form, setting out any matter: (a) that has been published in a document in Australia before the priority date in respect of the application for registration of the design; and (b) that the person considers to be relevant to the question whether the design was not, at the priority date referred to in paragraph (a), a design that was new or original. (5) The regulations may provide that a person who lodges a notice under subsection (4) shall lodge with the notice such number of copies as is prescribed of the document to which the notice relates. (6) The Registrar shall give to the owner of a design referred to in subsection (4) notice, in writing, of any matter to which a notice lodged under that subsection relates. (7) A copy of a document lodged with a notice under subsection (4) shall, subject to the regulations, be open to public inspection. (8) Upon receipt of an application under subsection (2) for extension of the period of registration of a design, the Registrar shall, subject to this Act, extend the period of registration of the design for a period that expires on a date 6 years after the date in which the application for registration of the design was lodged under this Act. (9) The Registrar may, having regard to any matter (including a matter published in a document a copy of which has been lodged with a notice under subsection (4)) that has come to his notice in connection with a design referred to in subsection (4), refuse an application under subsection (2) for extension of the period of registration of a design on the ground that the design was not, at the priority date in respect of the application for registration of the design, a design that was new or original. (10) Where the Registrar refuses an application under subsection (2) for extension of the period of registration of a design, he shall notify the owner of the design accordingly. (11) An appeal lies to the Federal Court from a refusal by the Registrar of an application under subsection (2) for extension of the period of registration of a design. (12) Where: (a) the period of registration of a design has been extended under subsection (8); and (b) application is made to the Registrar for a further extension of that period of registration; the Registrar shall, subject to this Act, extend that period of registration for a further period of 5 years. (13) Where: (a) the period of registration of a design has been extended under subsection (12); and (b) application is made to the Registrar for a further extension of that period of registration; the Registrar shall, subject to this Act, extend that period of registration for a further period of 5 years. (14) An application under subsection (12) or (13): (a) shall be made before the expiration of the period of registration of the design as extended under subsection (8) or (12), as the case may be, or within such period after that expiration as is prescribed; and (b) shall be made in the manner prescribed for the purposes of subsection (12) or (13), as the case may be. (15) The Registrar shall cause to be published in the Official Journal notice of: (a) an application under subsection (2) for extension of the period of registration of a design; (b) a refusal under subsection (9) of such an application; and (c) each extension under this section of the period of registration of a design. (16) Where: (a) a registered design was, at the time when it was registered, a corresponding design in relation to an artistic work in which copyright subsisted under the Copyright Act 1968; (b) by reason of a previous use of that artistic work, the design would not have been registerable under this Act but for section 17A; and (c) the copyright in that artistic work under the Copyright Act 1968 expires before the date on which the registration of the design ceases to be in force; the registration of the design ceases to be in force at the same time as the copyright in the artistic work and shall not be extended after that time. (17) Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this section, where a design has ceased to be a design to which section 25D applies, the period of registration of the design shall not be extended beyond the last date to which the period of registration of the design that was the original design, within the meaning of section 25D, in relation to the design that has so ceased could have been extended under this section. (18) In this section, design does not include a design to which section 25D applies.