Services

Designs Preparation, Filing and Prosecution
For a design registration, Representations illustrating the views of the article wherein the originality resides are required. The representations can be in the form of photographs or drawing figures showing the perspective, front, rear, top, bottom and side views of the article (4 copies of each view). A registered Patent Agent is qualified to represent a client for filing and prosecution purposes.

Designs' Opposition
Every design application comes under the purview of opposition by interested parties. Design Opposition requires a high level of technical and legal skills. A successful design opposition overthrows a design application rendering it free to be used by any person. Similarly, sustaining a design opposition is skillful work, too.

Use
Design registration in India gives the owner, a monopoly on his or her product, i.e. the right for a limited period to stop others from making, using or selling the product without their permission and is additional to any design right or copyright protection that may exist automatically in the design.

Term of a Design
The term of a registered design is initially 10 years from the date of registration. In cases where claim to priority has been allowed, the duration is ten years from the priority date.

Renewal
The registered design may be renewed for a period of 5 years before the expiry of the said initial period of Design.

Our core services include:

Design Filing and Prosecution
We involve ourselves in a multitude of design applications, each year. Each design application is meticulously prepared. Prosecution of design applications is done in-house.

Response to Office Actions
Validating each design application requires prompt and intelligent responses. We pride in our strength of catering to Office Action Reports from all jurisdictions of the world, in-house, thereby saving international attorney charges.

Search and Research Analytics
From a subject matter search to assignee search to invalidity searches to infringement opinions and analysis, we service various tailor-made search and research analytics' requests. We dig out information from a bouquet of subscribed databases and present an up-to-date report.

Freedom to Operate
The highest level or search and analysis is required for this service, where we study a subject matter in detail and find out relevant designs keeping a jurisdiction in mind. A combination of technical and legal personnel are involved in preparing these reports.

Watchdog Service
For each of our clients, we provide a service wherein we update them of the published design applications from design journals, which applications are within their realm of influence.

Infringement and Validity / Invalidity Opinion
For every claim of infringement that an opponent may provide, we provide counteractive evidence to provide non-infringement opinions. On the other hand, we also gather infringement evidence to fight cases at the IP office or the courts of law to enforce design rights.

What is a design?

A design registration is for an "article". Under the Designs Act, 2000 the "article" means any article of manufacture and any substance, artificial, or partly artificial and partly natural and includes any part of an article capable of being made and sold separately. The design should be new or original, not previously published or used in any country before the date of application for registration. The novelty may reside in the application of a known shape or pattern to new Subject matter.

 

What can be applied for design registration?

The design should relate to features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation applied or applicable to an article. Thus, designs of industrial plans, layouts and installations cannot be registered under the Act.

The design should be applied or applicable to any article by any industrial process. Normally, designs of artistic nature like painting, sculptures and the like which are not produced in bulk by any industrial process are excluded from registration under the Act.

The features of the design in the finished article should, appeal to and are judged, solely by the eye. This implies that the design must appear and should be visible on the finished article, for which it is meant.

Any mode or principle of construction or operation or anything which is in substance a mere mechanical device, cannot be registered. However, when any design suggests any mode or: principle of construction or mechanical or other action of a mechanism, a suitable disclaimer in respect thereof is required to be inserted on its representation, provided there are other registerable features in the design.

The design should not include any Trade Mark or property mark or artistic works as defined under the Copyright Act, 1957.

 

What rights do I get after the grant of my design?

Design registration in India gives the owner, a monopoly on his or her product, i.e. the right for a limited period to stop others from making, using or selling the product without their permission and is additional to any design right or copyright protection that may exist automatically in the design.

 

Who should file a design?

The application for registration of design can be filed by the applicant himself/herself or through a professional person (i.e. patent agent, legal practitioner). However, for the applicants not being residents of India, an agent residing in India has to be employed.

PROCEDURE

REQUIREMENTS: DESIGN QUESTIONNAIRE

REQUIREMENTS: DESIGN POA, FORMS (D-1, D-3, D-19), and TARIFF