Industrial Designs Act, 2001

Right to information.

39.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), after the registration of a design and upon the filing of a written request by any person in the prescribed manner, the Controller shall, subject to compliance with the prescribed conditions, give the person making the request such information, and permit him or her to inspect such documents, relating to the application for registration of the design concerned as may be specified in the request.

(2) Where deferment of publication is granted under section 32 , no information or documents constituting or relating to the application shall, without the consent of the registered proprietor or the applicant (as the case may be), be published or communicated to any other person by the Controller under subsection (1) until the expiry of that period of deferment.

(3) Subsection (2) shall not prevent the Controller from publishing or communicating to others any prescribed information relating to an application for registration of a design.

(4) Where a person is notified that an application for registration of a design has been made and that the applicant shall, if the design is registered, bring proceedings against that person in the event of his or her doing an act specified in the notification, that person may make a request under subsection (1), notwithstanding that the design has not been registered or that deferment of publication has been granted, and that subsection shall apply accordingly.

(5) Where an application for the registration of a design has been abandoned or refused, neither the application for registration nor any other material or information filed in pursuance thereof shall at any time be open to inspection at the Patents Office or be published by the Controller.