Design Registration
Protect your unique designs and stand out from the competition with Design Registration. Safeguard your intellectual property rights and prevent others from copying your innovative creations. Secure your designs today to ensure exclusivity and reap the rewards of your hard work. Don’t let your creativity go unnoticed.
Unlock Your Design Potential
Overview of Design Registration
In India, the design registration process protects unique and innovative appearances of products. The term “design” includes shapes, patterns, colors, and layouts that make a product visually appealing. However, mechanical elements, registered brands, property marks, and artistic works are not considered for design registration.
The purpose of registering a design is to safeguard the original and creative designs used in manufacturing goods, like phones or goggles. It ensures that the creators are not cheated by others who copy their designs and use them for their products. The registration helps designers, artisans, engineers, and inventors receive recognition and rewards for their unique designs.
Why need a Design registration?
A “unique design” refers to the new and inventive features of a product, such as its shape, patterns, colors, and decorations. When a product has an amazing design, it immediately catches the attention of customers in the market.
Companies or entities seek design registration for several reasons:
- To legally protect their original creations in India from being copied or stolen by others.
- To encourage and nurture creativity, uniqueness, and individuality in their products.
- All companies based in countries that are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and have agreed to the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement must comply with design registration rules.
Frequently Asked Questions
A design refers to the unique features of a product’s shape, pattern, color, or ornamentation that make it visually appealing. It can be two-dimensional or three-dimensional and adds distinctiveness to a product.
Design registration is not mandatory, but it offers legal protection and exclusive rights to the design owner. Registering a design helps prevent others from copying or imitating it.
Any individual, company, organization, or partnership can apply for design registration, regardless of their nationality or location.
The initial validity of design registration is ten years from the date of registration. It can be extended for an additional five years through renewal.
The Applicant can check the status of their design registration by accessing the online database and entering the application number at Design Search
To get design registration, the applicant need to file an application i.e. Form-1 on an online portal, providing the necessary documents and paying the required fees.
No, design registration is not a patent. A patent protects inventions, while design registration protects the visual appearance of a product.
You can sell your own design by licensing it to companies for commercial use or manufacturing. You can also consider selling it through online marketplaces or directly to manufacturers.
Overlap between design and copyright is addressed in Section 15 of the Copyright Act. If a design is registered under the Designs Act, it cannot receive copyright protection. If an unregistered design is reproduced over 50 times through industrial processes, the owner’s copyright ceases.
Benefits of having Design Registration
Design registration is quite common these days, and it offers various benefits under a specific Patent office. Apart from protecting against imitators, some advantages of design registration include:
- Legal Safeguard: When a design is registered, the owner can take legal action against anyone who copies it. This helps the owner protect their market share by keeping their design exclusive.
- Extended Validity: Once a design is registered, the certificate remains valid for 10 years. After this period, it can be renewed or extended for 5 more years.
- Protection Against Plagiarism: One significant benefit of design registration is that it offers legal protection against plagiarism. This means other businesses cannot copy, sell, distribute, or make products with a design similar to the original one that has been registered
- Enhanced Commercial Worth: When a design is registered with a patent authority, it enhances the product’s worth and makes it more appealing to customers. Having a registered design gives the product a better position in the market, making it more attractive to potential buyers.
- Promoting Fair Competition: Looking at the bigger picture, when many innovators register their designs, it sparks healthy competition among businesses. This leads to more research and development, encouraging further innovation that benefits both companies and customers alike.
- Customer Appeal: Another significant benefit of design registration is that it attracts customers based solely on how it looks. It is evaluated and judged purely by its visual appeal.
- Return on Investment: When a company or organization registers a design, they get the exclusive right to sell their product with that design. This adds value to their intangible assets and enhances their Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio. These assets can bring in extra income, leading to great returns on their investment.
- Product Differentiation: When a design is registered, it comes with vital documents that set it apart from others, giving the owner a competitive advantage. Moreover, owners can license the design to other companies, generating additional income streams.
- Licensing Opportunities: Design owners who register their designs with a specific patent authority can offer their designs to other companies for use. They can do this within their own region to earn money from the royalties paid by the company using their design.
Eligibility Criteria
Any individual, assignee, or legal representative can apply for design registration individually or in collaboration. The Design Act considers eligible candidates as “persons,” including legal firms, corporate bodies, small enterprises, and partnerships. Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) can also apply, but they need an intermediary legal executive or agent to handle the process on their behalf.
Process for the Design Registration
- The Applicant need to choose the Patent Office where he want to apply for design registration, which includes options like Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmadabad, Mumbai, or Chennai.
- In order to start the process, the Applicant should fill out Form-1 with all the necessary details, such as their name, address, and nationality. If Applicant represents a company, they must also provide incorporation details and legal status.
- The next step is to pay the required application fee to proceed with the design registration.
- The applicant must describe the class and sub-class of the article under the Locarno Classification for their design and specify the name of the article the design applies to.
- For the application, the Applicant needs to submit the representation of their design. If it’s two-dimensional, they must provide two copies. Additionally, they should highlight the unique features that differentiate their design from existing ones.
- If they wish to register the design in multiple classes, they have to submit separate applications for each class.
- As part of the application, they should attach a statement of disclaimer or novelty to each representation. This statement should specify any mechanical processes, numbers, trademarks, letters, etc. The applicant or an authorized person must endorse and sign it.
- The Patent Office will review their application and raise any necessary objections during the examination process.
- Once all objections are cleared, they will be granted a copyright certificate for their design. This certificate will be valid for 10 years from the date of registration.
- After obtaining the initial ten-year copyright certificate, they have the option to extend the registration for another five years by submitting Form-3 and paying a fee of Rs. 2000 before the expiration of the initial ten-year period.
Documents required for Design Registration Application
For design registration, the Applicant needs the following documents:
- A certified copy of disclaimers or extracts from them.
- All Affidavits.
- Proper Declarations.
If any other public documents are required, the Applicant can get them by paying a fee.
The affidavit should be written in a paragraph form, declaring the truth and verifiability. The controller sets the costs for the design registration process according to the fourth schedule.
Validity of Design Registration
When a design is registered, it is protected for ten years from that date. If the design has a priority claim, the protection also starts from the priority date. The registration can be extended for five more years by applying in Form-3 and paying the required fees to the Controller before the initial ten-year period ends. The design owner can apply for this extension as soon as the design is registered.
Cancellation of Design Registration
After a design is registered, it can be cancelled either by the owner or a third party. This cancellation can be done by raising post-grant objections through a formal petition and paying the required fees. The main purpose of cancelling a design is to prevent others from using it without permission.
Once a design is cancelled, it cannot be re-registered unless significant changes are made to create a new design. This ensures that the cancelled design remains ineligible for protection.
It’s important to note that an abandoned design, which is different from a cancelled design, can be restored if necessary. Abandoned designs can be brought back into consideration, but cancelled designs remain invalid and cannot be taken up by any other party.
Why mark-o-legal?
Choosing Mark-O-Legal Consultancy offers several advantages. They have a team of experienced professionals who are well-versed in intellectual property laws, including design registration. Their expertise ensures a smooth and efficient handling of your design registration, saving you time and effort. With Mark-O-Legal Consultancy, you can be confident that your design will be legally protected, and they will assist you in enforcing your rights if needed. They provide personalized attention to your specific needs, making sure you receive the best possible service and support throughout the design registration process.
Frequently Asked Questions
A design refers to the unique features of a product’s shape, pattern, color, or ornamentation that make it visually appealing. It can be two-dimensional or three-dimensional and adds distinctiveness to a product.
Design registration is not mandatory, but it offers legal protection and exclusive rights to the design owner. Registering a design helps prevent others from copying or imitating it.
Any individual, company, organization, or partnership can apply for design registration, regardless of their nationality or location.
The initial validity of design registration is ten years from the date of registration. It can be extended for an additional five years through renewal.
The Applicant can check the status of their design registration by accessing the online database and entering the application number at Design Search
To get design registration, the applicant need to file an application i.e. Form-1 on an online portal, providing the necessary documents and paying the required fees.
No, design registration is not a patent. A patent protects inventions, while design registration protects the visual appearance of a product.
You can sell your own design by licensing it to companies for commercial use or manufacturing. You can also consider selling it through online marketplaces or directly to manufacturers.
Overlap between design and copyright is addressed in Section 15 of the Copyright Act. If a design is registered under the Designs Act, it cannot receive copyright protection. If an unregistered design is reproduced over 50 times through industrial processes, the owner’s copyright ceases.