The following are Tymel Patents’ terms and conditions for answering enquiries on old British and other patents. All customers who commission Tymel Patents to answer such enquiries shall be deemed by the act of commissioning a patent enquiry to have accepted the terms and conditions.

Whilst Tymel Patents takes every reasonable care in answering patent enquiries, Tymel Patents cannot guarantee the accuracy of the data sources used and does not accept responsibility for any errors or omissions or their consequences.
The standard fee for investigating patents is to be paid on commissioning the search. In the case that Tymel Patents is unable to carry out a search, the fee will be refunded. Should the search required be very extensive and cannot be completed with the standard fee, Tymel Patents will contact you and offer you the chance to pull out of the search with refund of the search fee, or pay an increased search fee and have the search carried out.
The search fee is not refundable if the search fails to produce any positive results.

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Q.The patent number on an object has the letters RD, Reg No or Reg Des. What does this mean?

The letters RD, Reg No or Reg Des (or similar) stand for registered design. These are not patents (which protect the features and processes that make work); registered designs protect the physical look or visual appeal of an object. Tymel Patents (and the Intellectual Property Office) is unable to help with pre 1990 registered designs. You can get an idea of the date from Great Glass; this site lists registered design numbers for glassware but will give you an idea of the date for non-glassware designs.

For full information on a registered design you will need to go to the National Archives. They are able to supply copies of the representation (line drawings or photographs) and more usefully the register entry (giving details of the designer and dates, maybe licences) of a registered design. They publish a good research guide on registered designs.

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