Designs law: meaning of design, origin, significance and salient features of the Designs Act, 2000

1. Definition: section 2(d)

“Design” means only the features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament or composition of lines or colours applied to any article, whether in two dimensional or three dimensional or in both forms, 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. It does not include:

• any mode or principle of construction, or anything which is in substance a mere mechanical device;
• any trade mark (the definition still refers to the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958, now read as the Trade Marks Act, 1999);
• any property mark (formerly section 479 of the Indian Penal Code, now section 345 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023); or
• any artistic work as defined in section 2(c) of the Copyright Act, 1957.

The elements, taken one by one:

• Features: shape and configuration (three-dimensional form), pattern and ornament (surface decoration), composition of lines or colours.
• Applied to an article: “article” (section 2(a)) means any article of manufacture and any substance, artificial or partly natural, including a part capable of being made and sold separately. A design exists only in relation to an article; a pattern in the abstract is not a registrable design.
• By an industrial process: the article must be capable of being reproduced industrially. A one-off sculpture is copyright matter, not a design.
• Appeal to the eye: the test is visual. Features dictated solely by function, which the customer does not notice or choose for appearance, are excluded.

Section 2(g): “original” means originating from the author of the design, and includes cases which, though old in themselves, are new in their application, such as a known pattern applied for the first time to a particular article.

In Bharat Glass Tube Ltd. v. Gopal Glass Works Ltd., 2008 INSC 565, (2008) 10 SCC 657, the Supreme Court explained that a design is to be applied to a finished article and judged solely by the eye, and that the article on which it is to be applied must be named at the time of registration; the two go together. On that basis it upheld the registration of a pattern for glass sheets against a cancellation petition alleging prior publication.

2. Origin and development

• England. Design protection began with the textile trade. The Designing and Printing of Linens, Cotton, Calicoes and Muslins Act, 1787 gave short protection to new patterns for printed fabric. It was extended to other materials in the nineteenth century, and the Patents, Designs and Trade Marks Act, 1883 brought registration under the Patent Office.
• India. The Patterns and Designs Protection Act, 1872, then the Inventions and Designs Act, 1888, then the Indian Patents and Designs Act, 1911, which governed designs for nearly ninety years. When patents got their own statute in 1970, designs remained under the 1911 Act.
• Designs Act, 2000 (16 of 2000), in force from 11 May 2001, repealed the 1911 Act as to designs (section 48). It was enacted to meet the TRIPS obligation in Articles 25 and 26 to protect independently created new or original industrial designs for at least ten years, and to modernise the law: absolute novelty, a longer term, an international classification and examination by the Patent Office. The procedure is in the Designs Rules, 2001, as amended.

3. Significance of design protection

January 2026 set this as a short note.

• In many markets (furniture, jewellery, textiles, footwear, cars, mobile phones, packaging) buyers choose products by appearance as much as function. Design is a major part of the product’s value.
• Appearance is easy to copy once a product is on sale. Without protection, the designer bears the cost of creation and the imitator takes the benefit.
• Registration gives a clear, quick and inexpensive right, without having to prove reputation (as in passing off) or inventive step (as in patents).
• It rewards traditional craft and small manufacturers, for example in textiles and handicrafts, where pattern is the product.
• It encourages investment in industrial design and helps exporters, since registration supports claims to priority in convention countries (section 44).
• The limited term (at most fifteen years) means the design then enters the public domain.

4. Salient features of the Designs Act, 2000

• Narrow definition of design, excluding functional features, trade marks, property marks and artistic works (section 2(d)).
• Absolute novelty: a design disclosed to the public anywhere in India or in any other country, by publication in tangible form, by use or in any other way before the filing or priority date, cannot be registered (section 4(b)). Under the 1911 Act prior publication counted only in India.
• Grounds of refusal: not new or original; previously disclosed; not significantly distinguishable from known designs or combinations of known designs; scandalous or obscene matter (section 4); contrary to public order or morality (sections 5(1) and 35).
• Registration by class: designs are registered in respect of articles in a prescribed class (section 6), the classification following the international Locarno system.
• Examination by an examiner before registration (section 5(1)), with the Controller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks as Controller (section 3).
• Term: ten years from registration, extendable once by five years (section 11), with restoration of a lapsed design within one year (sections 12 to 14).
• Cancellation on petition by any interested person at any time after registration (section 19), with appeal to the High Court.
• Piracy made actionable, with a fixed sum or damages and injunction, and invalidity available as a defence (section 22).
• Exhibitions: disclosure at notified exhibitions does not destroy novelty if the application is made within six months (section 21).
• Reciprocity and priority for applications from convention countries within six months (section 44).
• Binding on Government, with the Patents Act’s government use provisions applied (section 20).
• Appeals to the High Court within three months (section 36).
• Avoidance of restrictive conditions in licences and contracts (section 42).

How this is examined

January 2026 and February 2025 both asked “Define design. Explain the salient features of Design Act, 2000”, and June 2025 “Define design. Discuss the origin and development of design law.” Write the definition in full, explain each element and the exclusions with Bharat Glass, then either section 4 or section 2 above. June 2025’s short note “designs which can be registered” is answered from the definition plus section 4 of the Act.