Design Registration is one kind of intellectual property protection. A newly created original design applied to an article created under an industrial process can be safeguarded from imitating fraudulently. Any shape, pattern, configuration, ornament, an assortment of lines, colour or composition applied to any article can be registered under the Design Act, 2000. The creator of a design is required to meet certain conditions to get that particular design registered.
Here are the following conditions to meet to get a design registered:
The creator or the owner of a design possesses exclusive rights over the use of the particular design for a time span of ten years. Design registration ensures that the tenure to use the design gets extended for five more years. Whenever there is any case of breaching, the creator or owner of an officially registered design can ask for legal action under the Design Act.
Procedure of Design Registration
Along with four distinctive copies of the original and unique design, the creator needs to submit the design registration application. It is of the utmost importance to submit a statement of novelty wherein the creator or designer must mention precisely on what ground it is being stated that the design is entirely unique and not an imitation of any other existing registered design. Make sure that the representational design, you, being a creator or owner, would submit in the ‘representation of the design’ should be a similar-looking or replica of the original design that you want to get registered to prevent infringement activities.
Design Registration – Requisite Document
To get a unique design registered, the creator or owner needs to submit a few necessary documents. Here are the vital documents required for the registration of a design:
Remember that keeping the affidavits in paragraph form is essential, and it should include a declaration by the creator regarding the verifiability and truth. The Controller, according to the Fourth Schedule, regulates the expenses involved in the procedure of registration of a design.
What Makes Trademark Different from Design Registration?
The design registration comes to the protection of any new, original and unique ornamental design of an article of a manufacturer. To safeguard a word or many words, symbol, name or illustration, mostly used in commerce to differentiate one source of products or services from that of the other, trademark registration is a must.
Describing the concepts mentioned above in another way. To protect the physical appearance of a product with unique characteristics, which a creator intends to sell to the public (until the appearance doesn’t negatively impact the functionalities of a particular product in any way), executing the registration of a design is imperative. Business owners acquire the right to protect the word(s) or symbol(s) they use to enable the public to identify easily. An owner or creator with trademark or design registration rights could receive potential rewards in certain circumstances when both forms of safeguarding become accessible for covering a particular design.
File In A Professional Manner
A creator or owner of a design should get in touch with a professional when it comes to filing for the design registration to ensure that a unique and original design stays protected from being breached. A professional with years of experience can improve the possibilities of a registration of a design remarkably by filing an application in a professional manner, throwing light on all key aspects of the Design Act.
Government Procedure
Merely applying for registration of a design doesn’t ensure that a particular design is registered. The registration of a design is only a process, and the Registrar provides the registration depending on the facts and premises of each case. Therefore, the professionals at Only TM (Only Trademark) can put in honest efforts to complete the application filing to get a specific design registered based on their proficiency and experience.
Time Period
After the completion of the filing of design registration, checking the application status at frequent interval till its processing on the Government end is of the utmost importance. An application needs to take several time-specific responses or actions during the procedure of application filing of a registration of a design. Being the creator of a design, you should check frequently and take necessary action until the design gets registered.
Safeguarding
To make competitors aware of a design registration and prevent fraudulent imitating, the Patent Office maintains and publishes the list of all registered designs. An owner can seek legal treatment under the Design Act if there is any counterfeiting or privacy of a design that’s registered.
Protection for A Period of 10-Year
Under the Design Act, all registered designs remain protected for ten years, which one can further extend for a period of additional five years. However, you should remember that the registration of a design is primarily applicable to designs applied on an article by an industrial procedure. Therefore, words, symbols or other items that a Copyright Act or Trademark Act covers, cannot be granted or registered as a design.
