Design Registration In India:- Design Registration Procedure In India

Design refers to the features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornamentation or composition of lines or colours applied to any article, in two or three dimensional forms. Designs do not include any mode or principal of construction or anything which is meager mechanical device. It does not include trademark or any artistic work. Design registration Act protects only designs that are aesthetic in nature. They may be decorative elements added to the article or they may be part of configuration or shape. Originality and novelty are the important criteria in a design for registration. Additionally, only those designs that are applied to an article by an industrial process will be protected. The designs act, 2000 and the designs rules, 2001 govern the design registration in India.  The Indian law of designs is enshrined in the Designs Act, 2000. The Act seeks to provide for the registration of designs in India. The rights granted under the Act are operative in the whole of India.

The design registration in India confers upon the registered proprietor the exclusive right to apply a design to the article in the class in which the design has been registered. A registered proprietor of the design is entitled to a better protection of his intellectual property. He can take legal action for infringement, if his right is infringed by any person. He can sell or license his design as legal property for a royalty or consideration. Registration originally confers this right for ten years from the date of registration. If the fee for extension is not paid for the further period of registration within the period of initial registration, this right will finish. There is provision for the restoration, which is filed within one year from the date of termination in the prescribed manner.
The main purpose of design registration is to see that the artisan, creator, of originator of a design having an aesthetic look is not deprived of his genuine reward by others applying the same look to their goods. Essential requirement for registering design is that the design should be new or original, which is not previously published or used in any country before the date of application for registration. The novelty and originality may reside in the application of a known shape or pattern to a new subject matter. India Trademarks have been defined as any sign, or any combination of signs capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings. The registration of a trademark confers on the registered proprietor of the trademark the exclusive right to use the trademark in relation to the services or goods in respect of which the trademark is registered.