The applicant has 6 months from the priority date to request registration or publication of all the designs in the application. If they do not, the application will lapse after 6 months in relation to any designs they have not requested registration/publication for.

The request should be clearly stated in writing, either as part of the application or as a subsequent submission.

Checking the request

It is important to identify:

which designs are included in the request
whether the request is for registration or publication (or a mixture of both)
whether the request specifies that particular designs are not to be registered/published.

If the applicant does not specifically exclude particular designs, it is assumed that the request covers all the designs in the application.

A request for registration can be changed to a request for publication before registration, but not vice versa.

Once a request for registration or publication is received, we start the formalities assessment of the application.

Subsequent requests for registration

Once a request for registration is received, we normally cannot accept a second request in relation to the same application. This means that, if the application contains multiple designs and the applicant asks for only some of them to be registered, they cannot then make another request for other designs in the application to be registered.

The Registrar can make an exception to this rule if the other designs were left out of the original request only by mistake and we receive the second request before any designs in the application are registered.

Subsequent requests for publication

We can accept further requests for publication of designs in the same application. So long as the remaining designs have not lapsed, they can be published.

Excluded designs

A request for registration or publication must be made in relation to all designs included in an excluded design application. The request may be made outside the 6-month period (from the priority date), as long as the applicant requested registration/publication of all the designs at the time when they filed the initial application.

However, if an excluded design is filed on or after 10 March 2022 in relation to an initial application that was filed before 10 March 2022, the requirements at Part 2.7B of this section should be consulted.

Further designs

When a further design is filed (as a result of a formalities objection) and given a new design number in an existing application, we take it to include a request for registration.

B. The following is applicable to designs filed on or after 10 March 2022

There is a 6-month prescribed period from the priority date of an application to request registration for all of the designs applied for on or after 10 March 2022.

When the applicant files their application, they can either:

Request registration – seeking registration as soon as possible, referred to as an “actual” request for registration. A subsequent request can be made at any time in the prescribed period. See s 35(1) – (3).
Not request registration – effectively delaying the request, and the progress of their design application, until the end of the prescribed period. These are referred to as “deemed” requests for registration.

Deemed request for registration – applications containing a single design (s 35(4))

If at the end of the prescribed period, the application has not been withdrawn under s 32 and the applicant has not requested registration under subsections 35(1) – (3), then the applicant is taken to have requested registration of the design.

After a request has been deemed, the application will proceed to a formalities assessment.

Deemed request for registration – applications in respect of multiple designs (s 35(5))

Each design included in the design application is considered separately.

At the end of the prescribed period, the applicant is taken to have requested registration for each design, if:

The design has not been deleted or withdrawn from the design application;
The design application as-a-whole has not been withdrawn; and
The applicant has not already requested registration of the design under subsections 35(1) – (3).

Any request should be clearly stated in writing, either as part of the application or as a subsequent submission.

Checking requests for registration and withdrawal

If a request is submitted it is important to identify:

which designs are included in the request
whether the request specifies that particular designs are not to be registered/withdrawn.

If the applicant does not specifically omit particular designs, it is assumed that a request covers all the designs in the application.

Once a request for registration is received, or immediately following the 6-months prescribed period, the application progresses to the formalities assessment stage.

Excluded designs

A request for registration is taken to have been made where the design application is in respect of designs excluded from an initial application – see s 35(6) and s 36.

Further designs

When a further design is filed (as a result of a formalities objection) and given a new design number in an existing application, we take it to include a request for registration.