On 11th May 2001, the Designs Act, 2000, abolished the earlier Act of 1911, and the Designs Rules, 2001, which governs the registration and protection of industrial designs in India. Moreover, the Design Rules were amended by the Designs (Amendment) Rules 2008 and the Designs (Amendment) Rules 2014. The last act in the Designs Rules took effect on December 30th, 2014. In addition to natural persons and entities other than small entities, the applicant is now considered a small entity.
The industrial design consists of the creation of innovative and original features of new shapes, forms, surface patterns, embellishments, and styles of lines or colors used to articles that appeal to and are assessed individually in their finished state.
Design Registration Benefits
- Registered designs give their certified proprietors the right to apply them to articles of the class in which they have been registered.
- Those who have registered their designs are entitled to better intellectual property protection. If their right is infringed, they can sue. If they sell or license their design registration as legal property for a fee or royalty, they can sue for infringement. Registration initially grants this right for ten years after its date. This right will cease if the fee for size for the further period of registration is not paid within the first period of registration. It is required that the return be filed within one year of the date of cessation.
Registration of Designs Is Open to Anyone
According to the Design (Amendment) Rules 2014, there were two main kinds of applicants, namely ‘natural persons’ and ‘others than natural persons’, when the former Design Rules did not differentiate between them. It was also stated that any of the three categories would have a different fee, including those that are ‘small entities’ and ‘others except for small entities’. There are now three categories of design applicants with varying fees: “natural persons”, “small entities”, and “others except small entities”.
Required information
(1) Applicant’s name, address, nationality, and legal status if not a natural person.
2) Design to be applied to the article.
The claim of novelty for one’s design should be briefly stated
4) Article class embodying the design
If the applicant/s are partners or directors of the firm or company, their name(s), age, and address (es) are required.
A general power of attorney must include the following information: name, address, designation, and nationality of the person signing it
A Registered Design’s Validity Period
As originally intended, the registration period for a design is 10 years from the date of registration. However, for applications claiming superiority, the registration period is 10 years from the priority date if the claim is granted. There is a possibility of extending this initial When the first period of Copyright expires, the owner may apply for an extension of 5 years by making an application in Form-3 and paying Rs. 2,000/- to the Controller. A design owner may apply for such an extension even after it has been registered.
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