Application and Registration of a Design

• Author(s): Bhawna Sharma
• Date: 05-Sep-2020
• Post in: Design

An application for registration of a design can be filed by any person claiming to be a proprietor of a new or original design applied on an article. The proprietor could be:

• an author of the design;
• an exclusive assignee of the design;
• original proprietor of the design jointly with another person to whom rights have been transferred

An application for registration of design can be filed at any branch of the Indian Patent Office (IPO). However, further processing and prosecution of the Design Application takes place at Kolkata Branch of IPO.

The representations of a design applied on an article, which are to be submitted for registration, should be in one format and these can be drawings, photographs or computer graphics. It is advisable to include a perspective view, front view, back view, right side view, left side view, top view and bottom view of the article on which the design is applied along with the application for design registration.

There are two types of design applications:

• Ordinary Application: When an application for registration of a design is filed with the Indian Patent Office, without claiming any priority. Such applications are called as Ordinary Applications.

• Priority Application: When an application for design registration is filed with the Indian Patent Office, claiming priority from already filed design application(s) filed in a convention country or group of countries or inter-governmental organizations is called priority application. The priority design application is required to be filed within 6 months from the date of earliest priority application. The said time limit is not extendable.

In case of priority applications, it is mandatory for the applicant to furnish the original certified copy of the priority document along with the application or within extended time limit of 3 months from the date of filing of the application. A separate request is required to be filed for seeking extension of time limit. Further, verified English translation of the priority document is required to be furnished if it is in language other than English.

After filing of registration application they are directly taken for examination by the patent office. The process of design registration normally takes around 6 to 9 months. However, it may get extended under certain circumstances. It is pertinent to note that design registration is considered to be the quickest IP right a proprietor gets, among all other such rights.

As per the requirements of the Indian Designs Act, the proprietor has to mark REGISTRED, REGD., RD or Registration No. on the article for which design is registered before delivery on sale.