Design Registration

Design registration is a type of intellectual property protection under which a newly created design applied to an article created under an industrial process can be protected from counterfeiting. Design registration provides the creator exclusive rights to use the design for ten years, which can be further extended for five years.

A shape, configuration, pattern or ornament, or composition of lines and colors or combination applied to any article can be registered under the Design Act,2000. But for a design to get registered, it must satisfy the following conditions:

• It should be new and original.
• The design should relate to shape, configuration, pattern, or ornament applied to an article.
• The design must be applied to any article by an industrial process.
• The design must be visible and should appear in the article.

Under the Design Act, the owner of a registered design can seek legal remedy in case of infringement.

Definition of Design

A design is defined under Section 2(d) of the Designs Act 2001, as only the features of a shape, pattern, configuration, composition, or ornament of lines or colors that are applied to any article that is two dimensional, three dimensional, or both by an industrial process or any means whether mechanical, manual or chemical, separated or combined, which in the finished article are judged solely by the eye; but is not taken into account upon the principle of construction or anything which is in substance a merely mechanical device.

Documents Required for Design Registration

Following documents are to be submitted to get design registration:

• A certified copy of the original or certified copies of extracts from the disclaimer
• Affidavits
• Declaration
• Other public documents can be made available on payment of a fee.

The affidavit should be in paragraph form and should contain a declaration of truth and verifiability. However, the cost involved in design registration may be regulated by the controller according to the fourth schedule.

Design registration process

1.The application for Design registration must be filed with Form 1 along with the following details:

• Name of the applicant
• Address of the applicant
• Nationality of the applicant
• Suppose the applicant is not a natural person, i.e., a company, then information regarding the legal status must be included.

2.  The name of the article to which the design is applied

3. Registration of the design. In the case where the design is two-dimensional, two copies must be submitted. (The applicant must highlight the unique features of the design)

4. Suppose the application mentions registering the design in more than one class, then each class of Registration must have a separate application.

5. A disclaimer or novelty statement should be attached to each representation concerning the mechanical processes, trademark number, letters.

6. The applicant or authorized person must endorse and duly sign each representation.

7. Once the application’s submission is made, the patent office will examine the application, and objections will be raised, if any.

8. Once all the objections are removed, the design shall be granted a Copyright certificate by the patent office.

The design registration is valid for ten years from the date of Registration.