Design Registration comes under Intellectual Property Rights, which are the rights given to the person over the creation of their mind to use the his/her creation for certain period of time.

A Design refers to the features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament applied to an article by an industrial process. If a person is registering the design, it means he is protecting the external appearance of the article. Registered designs are used primarily to protect the designs for industrial use.

Design registration is governed by the Design Act 2000.

The object of Design Registration is to protect the original designs so that no one can copy the original design because many times the purchase of article is not only influenced by their specification or features but also by their designs. The important Purpose of Design Registration is to protect the right of the creator of the design, so that he could not be deprived of his bonafide reward of this artistic work by others letting not to apply the same design to their goods.

Stamp, cards, labels, token cannot be considered to be an article for the purpose of design registration.

What is Register of Design?

The Register of Document is maintained by the patent office, Kolkata as a sole requirement. It includes design number, class number, and date of filling, name and address of the proprietor and it is open for public inspection on the payment of prescribed fee.

The Duration of the registration of design is initially 10 years from the date of registration. The initial period can be extended to more 5 years by following the prescribed manner.

The Registered design can also be cancelled in the following cases–

• That the design has been previously used in India.
• It has been published in India or elsewhere prior to the Date of Registration.
• The design is not new or original.

The design is not registrable.