Reimagining Design Protection: India’s Proposed Revamp of the Designs Act, 2000

Introduction

Design rights have become increasingly significant in modern intellectual property portfolios, particularly in economies driven by innovation, branding, and user experience. India has seen a sharp rise in design activity in recent years, with design filings growing by more than 43% year on year and over 12,000 applications filed in 2024. A striking feature of this growth is that approximately 90% of filings originate from Indian applicants, reflecting a growing recognition among domestic enterprises of the commercial and strategic value of design protection.

In this context, the Government of India has issued a Concept Note outlining proposed amendments to the Designs Act, 2000. The proposed reforms aim to update India’s design law framework, ensure consistency with global best practices, and address the evolving nature of design creation in an increasingly digital and interconnected economy.

The Concept Note acknowledges that the existing legislative framework was drafted for a substantially different industrial landscape and requires recalibration to remain effective and relevant in contemporary markets.

Proposed Reforms

Adapting design law to the digital economy

The current Designs Act is primarily focused on protecting visual features applied to physical products. However, in today’s economy, competitive value is often embedded in digital interfaces and visual experiences rather than tangible goods alone. User-facing elements such as graphical user interfaces, icons, animations, transitions, and screen arrangements play a crucial role in sectors including software, fintech, gaming, healthcare technology, and e-commerce.

Although the Designs Rules were updated in 2021 to incorporate the Locarno Classification, the underlying statutory framework continues to focus on material articles. This has created uncertainty about the scope of protection available for digital or virtual designs. The proposed reforms aim to remove this uncertainty by ensuring that the law is technologically neutral and can accommodate new forms of design innovation.

Expanding protection to virtual and non-tangible designs

One of the most significant proposals in the Concept Note is the extension of design protection to expressly include virtual and non-physical designs. This would require amendments to the statutory definitions of “design” and “article” to cover digital expressions, including designs involving movement, animation, and visual transitions.

Under the proposed approach, protection could extend to interfaces, icons, graphic symbols, and virtual or augmented reality environments, even where such designs are not embodied in a specific physical product. At the same time, the reforms reaffirm that features dictated solely by technical considerations would remain outside the scope of protection, thereby preserving competition and public access to functional innovations.

Rationalising the relationship between design and copyright

The Concept Note also seeks to resolve long-standing ambiguity surrounding the overlap between design law and copyright protection. To this end, it proposes a revision to Section 15(2) of the Copyright Act, 1957.

The proposal would allow copyright protection for designs that are capable of registration but have not been registered, subject to an overall maximum term of 15 years. This measure is intended to curb excessive reliance on copyright to protect subject matter better suited for design registration, reduce avoidable litigation, and incentivise timely registration of designs under the Designs Act.

Introducing a broader grace period and deferred publication

To align legal protection with contemporary commercial realities, the Concept Note proposes the introduction of a comprehensive 12-month grace period for disclosures made prior to filing. This would replace the existing narrow exception limited primarily to exhibition disclosures. Designers who disclose their work through online product launches, investor pitches, pilot projects, or market testing would no longer automatically lose novelty.

In addition, the proposals include an option to defer publication of registered designs for up to 30 months. This mechanism would allow applicants to maintain confidentiality during product development and pre-launch stages, reduce the risk of copying, and align Indian practice more closely with international frameworks such as the Hague Agreement and the Riyadh Design Law Treaty, while safeguarding third-party interests.

Enhancing remedies and restructuring the duration of protection

To strengthen enforcement, the Concept Note proposes the introduction of statutory damages for design infringement. Courts may be authorised to award damages of up to INR 50 lakhs in cases involving deliberate infringement, with enhanced consequences for repeat violations. This approach seeks to improve predictability in enforcement and provide effective relief even where quantifying actual loss is challenging.

The duration of design protection is also proposed to be restructured into a three-stage renewal system of five years each. Under this “5+5+5” model, protection could extend up to 15 years, allowing rights holders to renew protection incrementally based on the continuing commercial relevance of the design.

Procedural simplification and international integration

The Concept Note further outlines procedural reforms aimed at reducing administrative complexity and improving efficiency. These include permitting multiple designs to be included in a single application, introducing divisional applications to isolate objections to individual designs, and creating a dedicated statutory framework for implementing the Hague System for international design registrations.

The proposals also contemplate India’s accession to the Riyadh Design Law Treaty, which would harmonise procedural standards, provide relief mechanisms for missed deadlines, and enhance ease of doing business.

Conclusion

The reforms proposed in the Concept Note represent a comprehensive attempt to recalibrate India’s design protection regime for the realities of modern innovation. By extending protection to virtual designs, clarifying the interface with copyright law, strengthening enforcement mechanisms, and streamlining procedures, the proposed amendments aim to create a more robust, and globally compatible design framework. These measures support the broader policy vision of promoting “Design in India, Design for the World” and have the potential to reinforce India’s position as a destination for design-driven growth and innovation.

Expositor(s): Adv. Archana Shukla, Riya Raksha (Intern), Aditi Singh (Intern)