Industrial Designs refer to creative activity which result in the ornamental or formal appearance of a product. Design right refer to a novel or original design that is accorded to the proprietor of a valid registered design. Industrial Designs are an element of Intellectual property. Under the TRIPS Agreement, minimum standards of protection of Industrial Designs have been provided for. For a developing Country, India has already amended its National legislation to provide for these minimal standards for the protection of Industrial Designs.
The essential purpose of Design Law is to promote and protect the design element of Industrial Production. It is also intended to promote Innovative activity in the field of Industries. The existing Legislation on Industrial Designs in India is contained in the New Design Act 2000 and this Act has been serving the purpose well in the rapid changes in technology and International Development. India has also achieved a mature status in the field of Industrial Designs and in view of globalization of the economy. The present legislation is aligned with the changed technical and commercial scenario and made to conform to International Trends in designs administration.
1. The first legislation in India for protection of Industrial Designs was The Patents & Designs Protection Act, 1872. It supplemented the 1859 Act passed by Governor General of India for granting exclusive privileges to inventors and added protection for Industrial Design. The 1872 Act included the term ―any new and original pattern or design, or the application of such pattern or design to any substance or article of manufacture.
2. The Inventions & Designs Act of 1888 re-enacted the law relating to protection of inventions and designs and contained provision relating to Designs in a separate part. 3. The Patents & Designs Act enacted in 1911 also provided for protection of Industrial Designs.
4. The Patents Act, 1970 repealed the provisions of the Patents and Designs Act, 1911, so far as they related to Patents. However, the provisions relating to Designs were not repealed and continued to govern the Designs Law. India joined the WTO as a ―member State‖ in 1995. Consequently, the Patents & Designs Act, 1911 was repealed and the Designs Act, 2000 was enacted, to make the Designs Law in India TRIPS compliant. The definition of ‗design‘ in the Designs Act, 2000 is more or less the same as that of the 1911 Act. Novelty under the 1911 Act was determined with reference to India, whereas under the Designs Act, 2000 novelty is determined on a global basis. The classification system of the 1911 Act was based on material characteristics of the article, whereas the Design Rules 2001 and the amendment in 2008 provide an elaborate classification based on Locarno Classification system.
Scope of Exclusive Rights
The Registered proprietor of the design shall have the exclusive right to apply the design to any article in the class in which the design is registered.
Term of Protection
Term of protection for Industrial design is five years from the date of application. The Registration can be renewed twice, five years at a time. The maximum term of protection is thus 15 years.
The holder of the registered design has thus a rather long time to exploit the competition advantage obtained by the design product. This is due to bring some further security to the investment.
The salient features of The Industrial Design Act 2000.
The Industrial Design Act 2000 was brought in to force on May 11,2001.The salient features of the Act are as follows:—
1. The definition of a Design is widened. “Design” means only the features of shape, configuration pattern, ornamentation, or composition of lines or colours applied to any article whether in two dimensional or three dimensional or in both forms, by any industrial process or means whether manual, mechanical or chemical ,separate or combined, which in the finished article appeal to and are judged solely by the eye, but does not include any mode or principle of construction or anything which is in substance a mere mechanical device ,and does not include any trade Mark, or property mark or artistic work as defined in the Copy right Act 1957.
2. Absolute novelty is essential to register a Design under the Industrial design Act 2000.
3. International classification of industrial Designs according to Locarno Agreement has been introduced.
4. The right of priority is applicable from an application filed in a convention Country.
5. The period of protection is for ten years extendable for a further period of five years,