The article below discusses the importance of getting a design registered legally. Once your design is registered, you gain ownership over and can sue a person if they try to forge it.
Importance of Design Registration
Design registration is a type of intellectual property protection that offers forgery protection for newly made designs applied to items made using an industrial process. Under the Design Act of 2000, ornament or lines of any shape, arrangement, pattern, colour, or combination can be registered. Registering is like putting a legal stamp on your uniquely created design.
The following requirements must be met for a design to be registered :
- It must be original
- It must relate to the characteristics of a shape, configuration, pattern, or ornament
- It must be applied to an article
- It must appear in the article
- The industrial process and the design must be evident.
Let’s learn everything about design registration and its importance below.
Required Documents for Design Registration
One must be aware of all the essential documents needed during registration. The following documentation must be provided to register a design:
- Verified copies of the original document or authenticated copies of the disclaimer’s excerpts
- Affidavits
- Declaration
- On payment of a fee, further public records may be made available.
The affidavit should be written in a paragraph format and include a statement of integrity and truth. The fourth schedule allows the controller to adjust the expense associated with design registration.
Process of Application
Any Indian citizen is eligible to apply. The candidate could be the creator of the design, the owner of the design, the recipient of the author’s development of the invention, or the recipient of the design’s transfer.There are four Patent Offices across the country, located in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai, from which you can apply. The Patent Office in Kolkata receives these applications for further processing and prosecution.Industrial design applications must be submitted in Form 1, duly signed by the applicant or his legal representative, and include the required fees and other information per the rules. In India, an authorised agent can only be designated by a licenced attorney or registered patent agent. Additionally, the application should include information if the design has previously been registered in another class.To prevent unnecessary delay, the application can be submitted directly by the applicant or through a patent agent/legal professional by submitting a power of attorney with the application and two copies of the design representation per section 11 r.w.r 14.
The representation sheet must accurately depict the article for which registration is requested, including all pertinent information. Reciprocity applications for designs filed in Convention Countries must be submitted in Form-18 at the time of application filing or within an extended period of three months after filing, along with the required filing fee.
An appropriate class of article designs should be included in the registration application. There might be instances where an article’s design includes several utilities, and an application could be submitted with an article description in one or more of the utilities.
The application must include accurate addresses. Before a design is registered, a new Form 1 application must be submitted, including required fees, if there has been any change in the address. In contrast, a Form-22 application and the required fee must be submitted to alter the registered design’s address.
The application’s date and serial number are assigned once the appropriate office has received it. If registration is approved, the given serial number becomes a registered number. Additionally, applications are not accepted if the representation sheet included in the application does not follow the established guidelines.
The documents are uploaded to the server and become part of official records after being received by the Patent Office and any attachments. An exclusive licence to utilise the design is granted to the creator for ten years, with the possibility of extending it for another five years. The registered design’s creator has the right to file a lawsuit under the Design Act in case of a violation.
Design registration cancellation
According to Section 10 of the Design Act of 2000, you can revoke or your design registration under the following circumstances:
- If similar designs already exist; the design is not unique
- The design has previously been registered in India
- Before the registration date, the design had previously been published in another nation
- It does not adhere to the requirements of a design as stated in the Design Act.
Importance of Design Registration
- Design owners who register their designs with a particular patent authority can license out their designs to third-party. They can take advantage of the substantial royalties paid by the licensee company within the boundaries of their patent jurisdiction.
- The commercial value of a design is increased, and the product’s marketability is increased through registration under a patent authority. It is because a product’s standing in the eyes of potential customers is improved by its proprietary design.
- After a design is formally registered, the owner has the right to bring legal action against anyone who copies it. It ensures that the design owner can maintain their market share by maintaining exclusivity over their design or product.
- Design registration offers legal protection against infringement, one of its most significant benefits. This procedure stops other companies from reselling, distributing, or producing goods identical to the original design.
- In a broader sense, when several creators register their designs, it increases market participants’ competitiveness. It motivates research and development (R&D) initiatives, which in turn encourage additional innovation and mutually beneficial outcomes for businesses and users of the product.
Conclusion
It can be a tedious task to know and learn about the importance of design registration. But fortunately, Vakilsearch’s legal services can help you with all the legal information you need regarding this. Our legal experts have every knowledge related to the importance of design registration in the country. Get in touch with us today to know more.
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