Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Dealings with design right

222Assignment and licences

(1)Design right is transmissible by assignment, by testamentary disposition or by operation of law, as personal or moveable property.

(2)An assignment or other transmission of design right may be partial, that is, limited so as to apply—

(a)to one or more, but not all, of the things the design right owner has the exclusive right to do;

(b)to part, but not the whole, of the period for which the right is to subsist.

(3)An assignment of design right is not effective unless it is in writing signed by or on behalf of the assignor.

(4)A licence granted by the owner of design right is binding on every successor in title to his interest in the right, except a purchaser in good faith for valuable consideration and without notice (actual or constructive) of the licence or a person deriving title from such a purchaser; and references in this Part to doing anything with, or without, the licence of the design right owner shall be construed accordingly.

223Prospective ownership of design right

(1)Where by an agreement made in relation to future design right, and signed by or on behalf of the prospective owner of the design right, the prospective owner purports to assign the future design right (wholly or partially) to another person, then if, on the right coming into existence, the assignee or another person claiming under him would be entitled as against all other persons to require the right to be vested in him, the right shall vest in him by virtue of this section.

(2)In this section—

• “future design right” means design right which will or may come into existence in respect of a future design or class of designs or on the occurrence of a future event; and

• “prospective owner” shall be construed accordingly, and includes a person who is prospectively entitled to design right by virtue of such an agreement as is mentioned in subsection (1).

(3)A licence granted by a prospective owner of design right is binding on every successor in title to his interest (or prospective interest) in the right, except a purchaser in good faith for valuable consideration and without notice (actual or constructive) of the licence or a person deriving title from such a purchaser; and references in this Part to doing anything with, or without, the licence of the design right owner shall be construed accordingly.

224Assignment of right in registered design presumed to carry with it design right

Where a design consisting of a design in which design right subsists is registered under the [1949 c. 88.] Registered Designs Act 1949 and the proprietor of the registered design is also the design right owner, an assignment of the right in the registered design shall be taken to be also an assignment of the design right, unless a contrary intention appears.

225Exclusive licences

(1)In this Part an “exclusive licence” means a licence in writing signed by or on behalf of the design right owner authorising the licensee to the exclusion of all other persons, including the person granting the licence, to exercise a right which would otherwise be exercisable exclusively by the design right owner.

(2)The licensee under an exclusive licence has the same rights against any successor in title who is bound by the licence as he has against the person granting the licence.