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INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
ndustrial Design Law protects aesthetic designs that are applied to articles. The design may
include the shape, configuration, pattern, ornament and so on that is applied to an article
and appeals to the eye. The design may be either two dimensional or three dimensional. For
example, a soap case in the shape of a car is protectable as an Industrial Design.
Requirements
To get protection, a design should satisfy the following requirements:
1. New: To get protection, a design should be new in the light of prior existing designs. For
example, if a soap case in the shape of a car already exists, you cannot get protection over an
identical or similar design.
2. Original: The design should be original, which means that it should be independently created by
the designer or it should originate from the designer.
3. Distinct: The design should be significantly distinguishable or different from known designs or
combination of known designs that have already been registered. For example, if a design of a
lamp in the shape of a girl is already registered, creation of a lamp design in the shape of a girl
same or identical as that of the registered design would not get design protection.
4. Publication or Use: A design cannot be registered if the design has been published in a tangible
form anywhere in the world. Furthermore, a design cannot be registered if the design is
disclosed to public or forms part of public use. For example, If everyone in the general public
have been using belts having turtle shaped buckles, such a design would not be eligible for
registration.
5. Not Scandalous or Obscene: To get protection, a design should not be scandalous or obscene.
For example, a door having artistic pictures of naked men and women cannot get design
protection as it is obscene.
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Registration
A design may be registered by filing an application along with the fee before the Controller1
.
The application will be examined and on satisfaction of all the aforementioned requirements,
the Controller will register the design. On registration of the design, the applicant will get a
copyright in the design. Any objection in relation to the decision of the controller can be
appealed to the High Court.
Term
The term2
of protection for a design is 10 years from the date of registration. The term may be
extended for 5 years by paying the prescribed fee before the expiry of 10 years.
Rights
The owner of a copyright in a design gets the following rights:
Right to sell: The owner gets the exclusive right to apply the design to an article in order to sell
the article having the same or similar design to any person.
Right to Import: The owner gets the right to import articles to which the registered design has
been applied for selling them.
Publish or Expose for sale: The owner gets the exclusive right to publish or expose an article to
which the design has been applied for purposes of attracting customers to sell the article.
Piracy
If any person sells, imports, publishes or exposes for sale any article to which a registered
design has been applied without the permission of the owner of the design, the owner would
be liable for piracy. Committing piracy of a design could give rise to civil and/or criminal liability.
1
The Designs Act, 2000 , Section 5 : Application of registration of designs.
2
The Designs Act, 2000, Section 11 : Term of copyright in design on registration.

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Suggested Further Reading
Designing around Designs
Industrial Designs infringement and remedies