Registered Users

In one line

A licensee is registered as a registered user on a joint application with the agreement and an affidavit, he may complain to a criminal court in his own name, and his right cannot be assigned.

What a registered user is

Section 24. "Subject to the provisions of section 25, a person other than the registered proprietor of a layout-design may be registered as a registered user thereof."

"Registered user" is defined in section 2(p) as a person for the time being registered as such under section 25.

The concept is borrowed from trade mark law. A registered user is a licensee whose licence is on the register, so that his use counts as the proprietor's and so that third parties can see who is authorised.

Contrast the Geographical Indications Act. There the authorised user is a producer in the region, holds the exclusive right of use under section 21(1)(b), and is not a licensee at all, because section 24 of that Act forbids licensing. Here the registered user is exactly what that Act forbids: a licensee. The two words look alike and mean opposite things, and confusing them is a standing trap.

Section 25: how registration is obtained

Section 25(1), a joint application with three attachments. Where it is proposed that a person be registered as a registered user, "the registered proprietor and the proposed registered user shall jointly apply in writing" in the prescribed manner, and the application shall be accompanied by

(a) the agreement. "The agreement in writing or a duly authenticated copy thereof, entered into between the registered proprietor and the proposed registered user with respect to the permitted use of the layout-design."

(b) an affidavit made by the registered proprietor or a person authorised to act for him, giving

• (i) particulars of the relationship, existing or proposed, between them, "including particulars showing the degree of control by the proprietor over the permitted use" which the relationship will confer, and whether it is a term that the proposed registered user shall be the sole registered user or that there shall be any other restriction as to persons for whom registration may be applied for;
• (ii) the conditions or restrictions, if any, proposed with respect to the place of permitted use or any other matter; and
• (iii) whether the permitted use is to be for a period or without limit of period, and if for a period, its duration.

(c) such further documents or other evidence as the Registrar may require or as may be prescribed.

Section 25(2), the duty. "Where the requirements of sub-section (1) have been complied with, the Registrar shall register the proposed registered user." No discretion.