Registered Designs Ordinance, 2000

This ordinance repealed and replaced most of Pakistan's earlier law on industrial design protection (parts of the Patents and Designs Act, 1911), setting out how the visual design of manufactured articles can be registered and protected. Section 2 defines a "design" as features of shape, configuration, pattern, or ornament applied to an article that appeal to the eye, excluding features dictated purely by technical function.

Section 3 sets the core registrability test: a design must be new or original, not already registered or published in Pakistan or anywhere in the world for the same or a similar article, and disclosures made within twelve months before filing (by the applicant or through misuse by a third party) do not count against novelty. Section 4 establishes the Patent Office to administer applications, and Section 5 describes the registration process, including the Registrar's power to refuse or modify an application and a right of appeal to the High Court against the Registrar's decisions.

Once registered, Section 7 gives the proprietor the exclusive right to apply the design to the specified article, and Section 8 makes it an infringement for others to do so without consent, though Section 9 protects an innocent infringer from damages in some circumstances. Section 10 allows cancellation of a registration. Sections 11 and 12 deal with international "convention countries" and priority claims for designs already filed abroad.

Chapter V (Sections 13-20) covers the Register of Designs itself — certificates of registration, recording assignments, correcting the register, and public inspection. Chapter VIII makes it an offence to falsify the register or falsely claim a design is registered, and Section 30 holds company directors and similar officers personally liable for offences committed by a body corporate unless they can show they exercised due diligence to prevent it. The ordinance does not specify the actual fine or imprisonment amounts for these offences in the text extracted here, so anyone relying on penalty figures should check the current official text. Section 36 formally repeals several specific sections of the old 1911 Act.