The applicant for or holder of a registered Community
design or any other party to proceedings before the Office
who, in spite of all due care required by the circumstances
having been taken, was unable to observe a time limit vis-à-vis
the Office shall, upon application, have his rights re-established
if the non-observance in question has the direct consequence,
by virtue of the provisions of this Regulation, of causing the
loss of any rights or means of redress.
The application must be filed in writing within two
months of the removal of the cause of non-compliance with
the time limit. The omitted act must be completed within this
period. The application shall only be admissible within the year
immediately following the expiry of the unobserved time limit.
In the case of non-submission of the request for renewal of
registration or of non-payment of a renewal fee, the further
period of six months provided for in the second sentence of
Article 13(3) shall be deducted from the period of one year.
The application must state the grounds on which it is
based and must set out the facts on which it relies. It shall not
be deemed to be filed until the fee for the re-establishment of
rights has been paid.
The department competent to decide on the omitted act
shall decide upon the application.
The provisions of this Article shall not be applicable to
the time limits referred to in paragraph 2 and Article 41(1).
Where the applicant for or holder of a registered
Community design has his rights re-established, he may not
invoke his rights vis-à-vis a third party who, in good faith, in
the course of the period between the loss of rights in the
application for or registration of the registered Community
design and publication of the mention of re-establishment of
those rights, has put on the market products in which a design
included within the scope of protection of the registered
Community design is incorporated or to which it is applied.
A third party who may avail himself of the provisions of
paragraph 6 may bring third party proceedings against the
decision re-establishing the rights of the applicant for or holder
of the registered Community design within a period of two
months as from the date of publication of the mention of
re-establishment of those rights.
Nothing in this Article shall limit the right of a Member
State to grantrestitutio in integrumin respect of time limits
provided for in this Regulation and to be complied with
vis-à-vis the authorities of such State.