“aesthetic design”

means any design applied to any article, whether for the pattern or the shape or the configuration or the ornamentation thereof, or for any two or more of those purposes, and by whatever means it is applied, having features which appeal to and are judged solely by the eye, irrespective of the aesthetic quality thereof;

“agent”

means a patent agent referred to in section 20 of the Patents Act, 1978 (Act No. 57 of 1978), or an attorney;

“applicant”

includes the legal representative of a deceased applicant or of an applicant who is a person under legal disability;

“article”

means any article of manufacture and includes a part of such article if manufactured separately;

“cessionary”

includes the personal representative of a cessionary, and any reference to the cessionary of any person shall be construed as including a reference to the cessionary of the personal representative of that person;

“convention country”

means any country or group of countries in respect of which there is in force a proclamation in terms of section 43 declaring such country or group of countries to be a convention country or convention countries for the purposes of this Act;

“court”

in relation to any matter, means the division of the Supreme Court of South Africa having jurisdiction in respect of that matter;

“date of application”

means—

“design”

means an  or a functional design;

“designs office”

means the designs office referred to in section 4;

“functional design”

means any design applied to any article, whether for the pattern or the shape or the configuration thereof, or for any two or more of those purposes, and by whatever means it is applied, having features which are necessitated by the function which the article to which the design is applied, is to perform, and includes an integrated circuit topography, a mask work and a series of mask works;

“integrated circuit”

means an article, in final or intermediate form, containing electrical, electromagnetic or optical elements and circuitry, which is capable of performing an electrical or an optical function, and in which at least a part of the electrical, electromagnetic or optical elements and circuitry are integrally formed, in accordance with a predetermined topography, in a semiconductor material;

“integrated circuit topography”

means a functional design which consists of the pattern, shape or configuration of the three-dimensional disposition of the electrical, electromagnetic or optical elements and circuitry of an integrated circuit;

“journal”

means the patent journal published in terms of section 14 of the Patents Act, 1978 (Act No. 57 of 1978);

“mask work”

means a functional design which consists of a pattern of an image however fixed or encoded, having or representing at least a part of an integrated circuit;

“Minister”

means the Minister of Trade and Industry;

“personal representative”

[Definition deleted by section 69 of Act No. 38 of 1997.]

“prescribed”

means prescribed by regulation;

“proprietor”

in relation to a design, means—

“register”

means the register of designs kept at the designs office in terms of section 7;

“registered proprietor”

means the person whose name is for the time being entered in the register as the proprietor of the design;

“registrar”

means the registrar of designs appointed or deemed to have been appointed under section 6;

“regulation”

means any regulation made under this Act;

“release date”

in relation to a design, means the date on which the design was first made available to the public (whether in the Republic or elsewhere) with the consent of the proprietor or any predecessor in

title;

“series of mask works”

means a related group of mask works which together represent the three-dimensional disposition of the electrical, electromagnetic or optical elements and circuitry of an integrated circuit;

“the repealed Act”

means the Designs Act, 1967 (Act No. 57 of 1967);

“this Act”

includes the regulations.