INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS Act, 2000.

Darshan
Computer science
 What is an Industrial Design?
Introduction:-
The Designs Act 2000 and the Designs Rules 2001 (which replace the
1911 act and the 1933 rules) constitute the statutory and regulatory
design laws in India.
Meaning:-
Design’ is defined by statute “to comprise features of shape,
configuration, pattern, ornament or composition of lines or colors
applied to any article in two or three-dimensional form, or both, 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”.
Note:-
It excludes any mode or principle of construction, anything which is
in substance a mere mechanical device, any trademark or property
mark or any artistic work as defined by the Copyright Act.
*****What is the need for protection of Industrial
Design?
1. Industrial designs are what make an article attractive and
appealing; hence, they add to the commercial value of a product
and increase its marketability.
2. When an industrial design is protected, the owner – the person or
entity that has registered the design – is assured an exclusive right
and protection against unauthorized copying or imitation of the
design by third parties. This helps to ensure a fair return on
investment.
3. An effective system of protection also benefits consumers and the
public at large, by promoting fair competition and honest trade
practices, encouraging creativity and promoting more aesthetically
pleasing products.
4. Protecting industrial designs helps to promote economic
development by encouraging creativity in the industrial and
manufacturing sectors, as well as in traditional arts and crafts.
Designs contribute to the expansion of commercial activity and the
export of national products.
5. Industrial designs can be relatively simple and inexpensive to
develop and protect. They are reasonably accessible to small and
medium-sized enterprises as well as to individual artists and crafts
makers, in both developed and developing countries.
 Registration of Industrial Design
In most countries, an industrial design must be registered in order to
be protected under industrial design law. As per act, Indian
Design Act, 2000, for any design to be registered, it must
be:-
1. New or original;
2. Not published (ie, disclosed to the public either in India or abroad in
a tangible form or through use or in any other way before the
application is filed);
3. Significantly distinguishable from known designs or combinations
of known designs; and
4. Devoid of scandalous or obscene matter.
Once a design is registered, a registration certificate is
issued. Following that, the term of protection granted is
generally FIVE YEARS, with the possibility of further
renewal, in most cases for a period of UP TO 15 YEAR.
Hardly any other subject matter within the realm of
intellectual property is as difficult to categorize as
industrial designs. And this has significant implications
for the means and terms of its protection.
How extensive is industrial design protection?
The laws governing designs are the Designs Act 2000
and the Designs Rules 2001. Designs are valid for a
maximum of ten years, renewable for a further five
years. Thereafter, the design becomes public property
and can be used by anyone.
Generally, industrial design protection is limited to the country in
which protection is granted.
The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of
Industrial Designs, a WIPO administered treaty, offers a procedure
for international registration of designs.
Applicants can file a single international application either with
WIPO or the national or regional office of a country party to the
treaty.
The design will then be protected in as many member countries of
the treaty as the applicant designate.
 *****Infringement of designs
INTRODUCTION:-
It is illegal to apply a registered design, or a fraudulent
or obvious imitation of such, to an article or to import,
publish or expose an article to which such a design has
been applied in the same class of articles in which the
design is registered, without authorization from the
registered owner.
Available recourse includes filing suit to recover a
nominal sum from the infringer as a contract debt or
seeking damages and an injunction against misuse of
the design.
Note:-A registered design is open to cancellation
proceedings by any interested person on the grounds
that it is not registerable and/or does not qualify as a
design.
*********WHAT AMOUNTS TO DESIGN INFRINGEMENT
1. To use a registered design in any class of goods either
for the purpose of sale or any fraudulent or obvious
limitation thereof, except with the license or written
consent of the registered proprietor.
2. To import for the purpose of sale, without the consent
of the registered proprietor, any article belonging to
the class in which the design has been registered.
3. Knowing that the design or any fraudulent or obvious
intimation thereof has been applied to any article in
any class of goods in which the design is registered
without the consent of the registered proprietor, etc.
4. Any actions in contravention of the corresponding
sections of Design Act, 2000, amounts to infringement of
registered design.
Case Law:-Veeplast vs Bonjour, 2011?
 ******Remedies against Infringement of Designs
Legal proceedings.
If anybody Infringe the registered design, the
proprietor of such design can have the following
legal remedies:-
1. Interlocutory injunction.
2. Anton Pillar Order.
3. Counterfeiting seizure.
4. Court Action. Depending upon the type of evidence,
the court may take civil or criminal action against the
defendant. The court may impose heavy penalties on
the defendant, or may send him to imprisonment.
5. Perpetual Injunction.
6. Compensation.
******Overlap of “Design, Copyright, and Trade
Marks”
*****Overlap between “Design & Copy Right “
1.While the Designs Act confers protection for a limited period (Max-15
years), the Copyright Act grants a higher level (about 70 years) of
protection to works such as paintings and sculptures.
2.To prevent any overlap, the Designs Act explicitly excludes
artistic works. Further, the Copyright Act provides that copyright
shall not subsist in any design which is registered under the Designs
Act.
3. Any subject matter that is capable of being registered under the
Designs Act, but is not, will lose copyright protection as soon as any
article to which the design has been applied has been reproduced
more than 50 times through an industrial process. This provision not
only discourages parties from availing of protection under both acts,
but also ensures that anyone attempting to do so has both sets of
rights extinguished.
******Overlap between Design & Trade Mark
Trademarks and designs are essentially different rights,
1. The designs are more concerned with an article’s appearance,
while Trademarks relate to the origin of the goods and
services.
2. The Designs Act expressly excludes Trademarks, Trademark law
includes the shape of goods within the ambit of a trademark,
3. Section 2 of the Designs Act, 2000, excludes ‘Trademarks’ from the
purview of design protection….therefore, only shapes that are not
inherently distinctive might be registered as designs, but protection
could be ousted as soon as they begin functioning as Trademarks or
source indicators
Case Laws
1. Bharat Glass Tube Limited vs. Gopal Glass Works Limited,
 2008 (37) PTC 1 (SC) .
2. Reckitt Benckiser(India) Ltd v. Wyeth Limited, 2010 (44) PTC 589 (Del (DB)).
3. Samsonite Corporation vs Vijay Sales,1998(18) PTC 372 (Del) .