Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2021)

7.   Commencement and duration of protection

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    (1)   Protection of a layout-design under this Act shall commence—

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      (a)     on the date of the first commercial exploitation, anywhere in the world of the layout-design, by or with the consent of the right holder, if an application for protection is filed by the right holder with the Registrar within the time limit referred to in section 8(2);

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      (b)     on the filing date accorded to the application for the registration of the layout-design filed by the right holder, if the layout-design has not been previously exploited commercially anywhere in the world.

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    (2)   Protection of a layout-design under this Act shall terminate at the end of the tenth calendar year after the date of commencement of protection.