Respected Sir,

Following are the required meaning of important terms related to Design Registration and the steps
involved in the Design Registration procedure.

Meaning of Design
• Design is not any design but an industrial design which has to be new and original and
have a new shape, configuration, surface pattern, ornamentations and the composition of
lines or colours which are applied to that particular articles and it shall be in a finished state
and it is judged solely by the eye.
• The article can be 2D or 3D or even both.
Meaning of Article
• Article is of any manufacture and any substance, artificial or partly artificial or natural, and
any part of the article capable of being made and sold separately.
• It is not mandatory to produce an article first and then Design. What important is the Design
has to be new or original which can be applied to an article through an industrial process.
Why registration of Design
It is a statutory right that accrues only on registration. It prevents others from producing, importing,
selling, or distributing products having an identical appearance or a fraudulent. The Monopoly
Period is for 10 years which can be extended to 5 years. Apart from this it also provides a Unique
Selling Point (USP). The design can further in the future be an asset which can be can be licensed.
Articles which cannot be registered under the Act
• Books, jackets, calendars, certificates, forms and other documents, dressmaking patterns,
greeting cards, leaflets, maps and plan cards, postcards, stamps, medals.
• Labels, tokens, cards, cartoons. any principle or mode of construction of an article.
• Mere mechanical contrivance.
• Buildings and structures.
• Parts of articles are not manufactured and sold separately.
• Variations commonly used in the trade.
• Mere workshop alterations of components of an assembly.
• A mere change in the size of the article.
• Flags, emblems, or signs of any country.
 • Layout designs of integrated circuits.
• An article is supposed to have an independent existence and identity. The design that is
applied to an article should be integrated within the article itself.
Receiving of certificate
• Though after the procedure is completed the applicant receives the certificate. But a
separate request has to be made to the Controller for obtaining a certified copy of the
certificate for the legal proceedings if any along with payment of the requisite fee.
• Register of Designs
1. A document maintained by the Patent Office.
2. It contains the following
3. Design Number
4. Class Number
5. Date of filing
6. Name and Address of proprietor
• And other details that might affect the validity of the proprietorship of the design. This
document is even available for public inspection by simply paying the prescribed fee and
even extract from the register can also be obtained.
Date of registration
The actual date of filing of the application is the date of registration. But in the case of registration
of the design with priority, the date of making an application is the date of registration.
Copyright and Design
• A registered design whose copyright had expired cannot be re-registered.
• The registration of a design confers upon the registered proprietor ‘Copyright’ which
means the exclusive right to apply a design to the article belonging to the class in which it
is registered.
Ascertaining Registration
• Request to be sent to the patent office
• If sure about the design number then the request is filed under Form 6 or 7 along with the
prescribed form. A particular request is only for a specific design.
Piracy of Design
• It means application and copying of Design to an article in a particular class that has already
been registered. Such an act is committed without the written consent of the registered
proprietor of the registered design. And then using that pirated design for the sale with
knowledge of unauthorized use.
• The best way to know whether the design is pirated or not is to place the product side by
side and consider whether the broad features of shape, configuration, and patterns are
similar or not.
• The case of infringement is filed to the court, not below the court of District Judge. The
maximum recoverable amount is 50,000 Rupees only.
• It is mandatory on the part of the proprietor to mark its Design as expect in the case of
textile Design.
Cancellation of the Registration
• The Design can be canceled by a petition under form 8 and payment of a prescribed fee to
the Controller of Design
• The grounds for the same are the following:
1. Similar Design already registered in India or published in India before the registration
2. The Design is not new or original or not registrable
3. Not a Design within the definition defined under Section 2(d)
Transferability of Ownership
• Transferability of Ownership is possible through the way of assignment, agreement,
transmission with certain terms, and conditions biding by law.
• A form -10 needs to be submitted along with the prescribed fee to the controller within 6
months of execution of the instrument. A notarized copy of the instrument is to be enclosed
with the application.

Priority Claim
As India is a party to Paris Convention therefore it follows the provisions of the right to priority
claim. Based on a regular first application filed in one of the contracting states, the applicant may
within the six months apply for protection in other contracting states, latter application will be
regarded as if it had been filed on the same day as the first application.
Non- Payment of extension fee within Prescribed Time
• The extension fee for the 5 years of the registered Design has to be paid before the expiry
of the original period of 10 years of the registered Design.
• In the case of lapsed design, it can be restored by the following procedure
• Submission of Form-4 along with the prescribed fee within the 1 year of lapse along with
a reason of non-payment.
• On the acceptance of the application, the proprietor of the Design is required to pay the
prescribed extension fee plus the additional fee