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About Indian Industrial Design Law and Procedure

India is a First-to-file system for registration of design. If two or more applications relating to an identical or a similar design conceived independently, are filed on different dates, the earlier application will get priority over the later application.

An application for registration of industrial design may be made by any person claiming to be proprietor of any new or original design. A convention application may be filed by claiming priority from design application for similar protection filed in other country provided Indian design application is made within six months of filing of such design application.

Information/Documents required for filing a Design Application:

  • Name, address and nationality of the applicant
  • Title of the article. In other words name of the article to which design is applied to
  • Class
  • Priority details, if any: Name of the Applicant, Priority country, Priority application number and priority application date.
  • Views of an article from different angles such as perspective views, front view, rear view, top view, side views etc

The applications for registration of Designs applied to articles are classified according to the Third Schedule of Designs Rules, 2001 for its classification. This is mainly based on (not same as) the International Classification System for Industrial Designs known as Locarno Classification.

Essential requirements for the registration of ‘design’ under the Designs Act, 2000?

  • The design should be new or original, not previously published or used in any country before the date of application for registration. The novelty may reside in the application of a known shape or pattern to new subject matter.
  • The design should relate to features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation applied or applicable to an article.
  • The design should be applied or applicable to any article by any industrial process.
  • The features of the design in the finished article should appeal to and are judged solely by the eye. This implies that the design must appear and should be visible on the finished article, for which it is meant.
  • Any mode or principle of construction or operation or anything which is in substance a mere mechanical device, would not be a registrable Design.
  • The design should not include any Trade Mark or Property Mark or artistic works as defined under the Copyright Act, 1957.

Rights conferred by Registration of Design:

Registration of Design gives legal right to the registered proprietor of the design to bring an action against a person who infringes the design right, in the Court not inferior to District Court in order to stop such exploitation and to claim any damage to which the registered proprietor is legally entitled.

Piracy of a Registered Design:

Piracy of a design means the application of a design or its fraudulent or obvious imitation to any article belonging to class of articles in which the design has been registered for the purpose of sale or importation of such articles without the license or written consent of the registered proprietor. Publishing such articles or exposing terms for sale with knowledge of the unauthorized application of the design to them also involves piracy of the design.

Marking of an Article:

Marking of an article with design number is not mandatory, but it is advisable because if the article is not marked, the registered proprietor would not be entitled to claim damages from any infringer unless the registered proprietor establishes that the registered proprietor took all proper steps to ensure the marking of the article, or unless the registered proprietor show that the infringement took place after the person guilty thereof knew or had received notice of the existence of the copyright in the design.

Cancellation of Registration of a Design

The registration of a Design may be cancelled at any time after the registration of the Design on a petition for cancellation by any person interested to the Controller of Designs, on the following grounds:

  • that the design has been previously registered in India or
  • that it has been published in India or elsewhere prior to the date of registration or
  • that the design is not new or original or
  • that the design is not registrable under the Act or
  • It is not a design under Clause (d) of Section 2

For any specific query related to Indian Design law and procedure in India, please contact us at ip@avntltech.com

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