Design Registration – Process and Procedure
Designs Registration in India
The objective of The Designs Rules, 2001 is to enable protection of newly created designs applying to particular articles manufactured by the industrial process. It refers in legal definition to:
- any mode or principle of construction or anything which is in substance merely mechanical device;
- any trademark which is a registered trade mark indicating connection in course of trade between the goods and some person having the right, either as proprietor or as registered user, to use the mark;
- any trademark which denotes the ownership of moveable property belonging to particular person; and
- any trademark which is a painting, sculpture, drawing, an engraving or photograph or any work of architecture or any other work of artistic craftsmanship
Design Registration
An application for the design registration of should be submitted along with four specimen copies of the design. A statement of novelty should too be submitted which refers to a statement of how the design is unique. Additional copies of the specimen design may be included. The design so represented in the ‘representation of the design’ submitted should be precisely similar to the design or exact copies of the design. The reciprocity application submitted in the UK or a convention country or group of countries or an intergovernmental organisation means can be made with additional copies of the design according to rule 30. The Controller may or may not accept the registration of design. A statement of objections may be made by the controller to the applicant with necessary amendments. The date on which the controller’s decision is dispatched is deemed as the date of appeal. Any applicant not completely and verifiably filed will be abandoned by the Controller. The particulars of the application and the representation of the article may be published in the Official Gazette.
Documents Required for Design Registration
- A certified copy of the original or certified copies of extracts from disclaimers
- Affidavits
- Declarations and
- Other public documents can be made available on payment of a fee.
The affidavits should be in paragraph form and should contain a declaration of truth and verifiability. The costs involved in the design registration process may be regulated by the Controller according to the Fourth Schedule.
General Guidelines
The design should be registered with all essential documents including reciprocity date and maintained on diskette and floppy or any other master folder. Any request for alteration of address should be made in Form 22. Under the Rule 33, details of the name, address and nationality of the person entitled should be recorded. The evidence of the transmission of copyright in a registered design or that affecting the proprietorship should be presented to Controller either in original, or notary certified true copy together with the application and may require any other proofs. The form of entry of the design registration application is a prescribed one and should conform to the relevant standards. The register of design can be made visible to the public except for during the time it requires office inspection. A note for rectification of design may be made to persons concerned and published in the Official Gazette. A notification of opposition to rectification of design can too be made by opponent.
