Design Registration

Design Registration — Regulatory Basis

Registration of an industrial design in India is governed by the Designs Act, 2000, which grants the registered proprietor exclusive rights to apply the design to an article for a defined statutory term.

Term of protection: A design registration is initially granted for a period of 10 years from the date of registration. This initial term can be extended by a further period of 5 years on payment of the prescribed renewal fee before expiry of the initial term, taking the maximum total term of protection to 15 years.

Novelty requirement: registration is available only for a design that is new or original and has not been previously disclosed, published, or used in India or elsewhere, and that is not contrary to public order or morality — prior public disclosure of a design (including by the applicant) can defeat its registrability, so filing before any public use or disclosure is essential.

Our engagement covers a preliminary novelty/registrability assessment, preparation and filing of the design application with the Design Office under the Designs Act, 2000, and follow-up through to grant, together with advisory on renewal timing to preserve the design's protection through the full 15-year term.

Design registration protects the appearance of an article — its shape, configuration, pattern, ornament or composition of lines or colours — under the Designs Act 2000. A design can be registered if it is new or original and not disclosed to the public before the application, under the conditions of Section 4 of the Act. Registration is applied for under Section 5 with the representations of the design, and registration confers the exclusive right over the design for an initial term of ten years under Section 11, extendable by five more years.

For product businesses, the design is a commercial asset hiding in plain sight. A furniture maker's chair silhouette, a packaging company's bottle shape, a textile designer's pattern — each is a design that competitors can copy the day it hits the market unless it is registered. Registration gives the owner the statutory right to stop the copies, and a registrable design that goes unregistered is simply abandoned to the market.

The failure mode of unregistered designs is the classic one: the product sells, the copy appears, and the original maker discovers that copyright in an article's appearance is a registered right — without registration there is no design right to enforce under the Designs Act 2000. Unlike a copyright in a literary work, which subsists on creation, a design must be registered to be protected.

This service is for manufacturers, designers and product companies registering the appearance of their products. We assess novelty and the Section 4 conditions, prepare the application and the representations under Section 5, file with the Designs Office, respond to examination queries, and manage the ten-year term and the five-year renewal under Section 11.