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revision, adaptations, and rearrangements
Sec. 203. Protection for a design under this title shall be available notwithstanding the employment in the design of subject matter excluded from protection under section 202(b) through (d), if the design is a substantial revision, adaptation, or rearrangement of said subject matter: Provided, That such protection shall be available to a design employing subject matter protected under title I of this Act, or title 35 of the United States Code or this title, only if such protected subject matter is employed with the consent of the proprietor thereof. Such protection shall be independent of any subsisting protection in subject matter employed in the design, and shall not be construed as securing any right to subject matter excluded from protection or as extending any subsisting protection.
commencement of protection
Sec. 204. The protection provided for a design under this title shall commence upon the date of publication of the registration pursuant to section 212(a).
term of protection
Sec. 205. (a) Subject to the provisions of this title, the protection herein provided for a design shall continue for a term of five years from the date of the commencement of protection as provided in section 204, but if a proper application for renewal is received by the Administrator during the year prior to the expiration of the five-year term, the protection herein provided shall be extended for an additional period of five years from the date of expiration of the first five years.
(b) Upon expiration or termination of protection in a particular design as provided in this title all rights under this title in said design shall terminate, regardless of the number of different articles in which the design may have been utilized during the term of its protection.
the design notice
Sec. 206. (a) Whenever any design for which protection is sought under this title is made public as provided in section 209(b), the proprietor shall, subject to the provisions of section 207, mark it or have it marked legibly with a design notice consisting of the following three elements:
- (1) the words “Protected Design”, the abbreviation “Prot’d Des.” or the letter “D” within a circle thus Ⓓ;
- (2) the year of the date on which the design was registered; and
- (3) the name of the proprietor, an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally accepted alternative designation of the proprietor; any distinctive identification of the proprietor may be used if it has been approved and recorded by the Administrator before the design marked with such identification is registered.
After registration the registration number may be used instead of the elements specified in (2) and (3) hereof.
(b) The notice shall be so located and applied as to give reasonable notice of design protection while the useful article embodying the design is passing through its normal channels of commerce. This requirement may be fulfilled, in the case of sheetlike or strip materials bearing repetitive or continuous designs, by application of the notice to each repetition, or to the margin, selvage, or reverse side of the material at reasonably frequent intervals, or to tags or labels affixed to the material at such intervals.
(c) When the proprietor of a design has complied with the provisions of this section, protection under this title shall not be affected by the removal, destruction, or obliteration by others of the design notice on an article.
effect of omission of notice
Sec. 207. The omission of the notice prescribed in section 206 shall not cause loss of the protection or prevent recovery for infringement against any person who, after written notice of the design protection, begins an undertaking leading to infringement: Provided, That such omission shall prevent any recovery under section 222 against a person who began an undertaking leading to infringement before receiving written notice of the design protection, and no injunction shall
