33. Infringement proceedings

The owner of a registered industrial design shall have the right to institute legal proceedings against any person who has infringed or is infringing any of the rights conferred by the registration of the industrial design.

The owner of a registered industrial design shall have the same right against any person who has performed acts which make it likely that an infringement will occur.

The proceedings mentioned in subsections (1) and (2) may not be instituted after five years from the act of infringement.

For the purposes of this section, “owner of a registered industrial design” means the registered owner and includes an assignee, a licensee or the beneficiary of a compulsory licence granted under section 27; but if any proceedings are instituted by a person other than the registered owner, it must be proved that that person had made a prior request to the registered owner to institute proceedings for the infringement complained of by him and that the registered owner had refused or failed to institute the proceedings within three months from the receipt of the request, without prejudice however to the registered owner’s right to join in such proceedings.