Design
Registration.
Protect the physical appearance and aesthetic of your products. Prevent competitors from copying your unique industrial designs and retain your market edge.
Why Register?
If your design influences consumer purchasing decisions, it must be protected.
Exclusive Rights & Validity
A registered design grants the creator exclusive rights to use the design for an initial period of 10 years, which can be extended by an additional 5 years.
Legal Protection
In case of piracy, the registered owner can seek legal remedies. Violators may be liable to pay up to Rs. 25,000 per offence (max Rs. 50,000 per design).
Public Record
All documents related to a registered design are maintained by the Patent Office. This serves as public notice to competitors that the design is officially registered.
The Distinction
In certain conditions, both forms of protection may be accessible to cover a single product, providing potential rewards for the owner of these rights.
Trademark vs. Design.
Design Registration
Protects any new and innovative ornamental design or physical appearance of a distinctive product you are planning to sell to the public (so long as that appearance does not affect the product’s mechanical function).
Trademark Registration
Protects a word, name, symbol, or drawing that is utilized in commerce to distinguish the source of goods or services from that of another business.
Eligibility Rules.
Strict conditions must be met under the Designs Act.
Registrable Designs
- • The design must be completely new or original.
- • Should relate to features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation applied to an article.
- • Applied to any article by an industrial process (excluding fine arts like paintings/sculptures).
- • Features must appeal to and be judged solely by the eye.
- • Must not include any Trademark or Copyright.
✕ Non-Registrable Items
- • Books, calendars, greeting cards, maps, stamps, labels, tokens.
- • Any principle or mode of construction.
- • Mere mechanical contrivances or devices.
- • Buildings and architectural structures.
- • Mere changes in the size of an article.
- • Layout designs of integrated circuits.