Article 50
Deferment of publication
- The applicant for a registered Community design may request, when filing the application, that the publication of the registered Community design be deferred for a period of 30 months from the date of filing the application or, if a priority is claimed, from the date of priority.
- Upon such request, where the conditions set out in Article 48 are satisfied, the registered Community design shall be registered, but neither the representation of the design nor any file relating to the application shall, subject to Article 74(2), be open to public inspection.
- The Office shall publish in the Community Designs Bulletin a mention of the deferment of the publication of the registered Community design. The mention shall be accompa nied by information identifying the right holder in the regis tered Community design, the date of filing the application and any other particulars prescribed by the implementing regula tion.
- At the expiry of the period of deferment, or at any earlier
date on request by the right holder, the Office shall open to
public inspection all the entries in the register and the file
relating to the application and shall publish the registered
Community design in the Community Designs Bulletin,
provided that, within the time limit laid down in the imple
menting regulation:
(a) the publication fee and, in the event of a multiple applica tion, the additional publication fee are paid;
(b) where use has been made of the option pursuant to Article 36(1)(c), the right holder has filed with the Office a repre sentation of the design. If the right holder fails to comply with these requirements, the registered Community design shall be deemed from the outset not to have had the effects specified in this Regulation. - In the case of multiple applications, paragraph 4 need only be applied to some of the designs included therein.
- The institution of legal proceedings on the basis of a registered Community design during the period of deferment of publication shall be subject to the condition that the informa tion contained in the register and in the file relating to the application has been communicated to the person against whom the action is brought.