Common use of Technical Function Clause in Contracts

Technical Function. Your application is not acceptable under Section 1C(1) of the Designs Act 1949 as it appears to have been designed in this way solely to perform its technical function of a facemask frame which will fit inside of a facemask in order to secure the mask around the wearers face. A frame is a rigid structure that surrounds something, in this instance a facemask, and this rigid structure will resist movement, staying in place in order to do its job of protecting the wearers face from debris. Registration is not permitted in cases where the technical function dictates the appearance of the product to the extend that it restricts design freedom and it is therefore not possible to create a new design. There is also an objection under 1C(2) of the Act. This states the following: "A right in a registered design shall not subsist in features of appearance of a product which must necessarily be reproduced in their exact form and dimensions so as to permit the product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied to be mechanically connected to, or place in, around or against, another product so that either product may perform its function". It appears that the frame for a motorist face mask would have to be made to specific dimensions so that it was able to fit inside the facemask and secure it around a wearers face and resist movement in order to protect them from debris and other particles and for this reason it would fall foul of the above section of the Act.

Technical Function. Your application is not acceptable under Section 1C(1) of the Designs Act 1949 as it appears to have been designed in this way solely to perform its technical function of a facemask frame which will fit inside of a facemask in order to secure the mask around the wearers face. A frame is a rigid structure that surrounds something, in this instance a facemask, and this rigid structure will resist movement, staying in place in order to do its job of protecting the wearers face from debrisdust. Registration is not permitted in cases where the technical function dictates the appearance of the product to the extend that it restricts design freedom and it is therefore not possible to create a new design. There is also an objection under 1C(2) of the Act. This states the following: "A right in a registered design shall not subsist in features of appearance of a product which must necessarily be reproduced in their exact form and dimensions so as to permit the product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied to be mechanically connected to, or place in, around or against, another product so that either product may perform its function". It appears that the frame for a motorist face dust mask would have to be made to specific dimensions so that it was able to fit inside the facemask and secure it around a wearers face and resist movement in order to protect them from debris dust and other particles and for this reason it would fall foul of the above section of the Act.