Piracy of Designs

e-primer module 2016-18

 Main points of focus
Meaning of designs.
Protection to registered designs only.
Concept of piracy.
Acts which constitute piracy.
Meaning of fraudulent or obvious imitation.
Judicial remedy.
The competent court.

e-primer module 2016-18

 Meaning of designs
Design means only the features of shape
configuration, pattern, ornament or
composition of lines or colours applied to any
article whether in two dimensional or in
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.
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 Protection to registered
designs only
The Designs Act refers only to the piracy of
registered design which in substance is the
same as infringement of the copyright in the
design.
During the existence of copyright in
the design is not lawful for any person to do the
following acts without consent or licence
of the registered proprietor of the design

e-primer module 2016-18

 Concept of piracy

Infringement of a copyright in design is

termed as "Piracy of a registered Design".
It is not lawful for any person during the
existence of copyright to do the following
acts without the consent or license of the
registered proprietor of the design.
Section 22 of the Designs Act, 2000, lays
down that the acts that amount to piracy
e-primer module 2016-18
 Concept of piracy

Any unauthorised application of the

registered design or a fraudulent or
obvious imitation thereof to any article
covered by the registration for trade
purpose or the import of such articles for
sale is a piracy or infringement of the
copyright in the design.

e-primer module 2016-18

Acts which constitute piracy

(1) to apply or cause to apply the

registered design to any class of goods
covered by the registration the design any
fraudulent or obvious imitation thereof;

e-primer module 2016-18

 Acts which constitute
piracy
(2) to import for the purpose of sale any
article belonging to the class in which the
design has been registered and to which
the design or a fraudulent or obvious
imitation thereof has been applied;

e-primer module 2016-18

Acts which constitute
piracy
(3) to publish or expose or cause to be
published or exposed for sale any article
of the class in question to which the
design or a fraudulent or obvious
imitation thereof has been applied.

e-primer module 2016-18

Meaning of fraudulent or
obvious imitation
A distinction is made between fraudulent and obvious
imitation. The crux of both is that there is imitation.
Thus even in the case of fraudulent imitation the design
applied must be an imitation of the registered design.
In a fraud the imitation has been made with the intention
to deceive another person with the knowledge that what
is being done is a violation of the other persons right.
There must be an exact imitation of the registered design.

e-primer module 2016-18

 Meaning of fraudulent or
obvious imitation
In Western Engineering Company v. Paul
Engineering Co, it was held that features of shape,
configuration, pattern etc, of the two designs
must be same for determining whether there was
infringement or not .
The sameness in feature shall be determined by
the eye .
The design need not be identical on all points and
differ on no points.
e-primer module 2016-18
 Judicial remedy
to pay to the registered proprietor of the design a
sum not exceeding twenty-five thousand rupees
recoverable as a contract debt, or
if the proprietor elects to bring a suit for the
recovery of damages for any such contravention,
and for an injunction against the repetition
thereof, to pay such damages as may be awarded
and to be restrained by injunction accordingly:
Provided that the total sum recoverable in respect
of any one design under clause shall not exceed
fifty thousand rupees
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 The competent court

The suit of infringement shall be

instituted in any court below the court of
District Judge.

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E-Primer module 2016-18
2016-18,Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies