Do You Need Design Registration, Objection & Renewal? A Practical Starting Point
The shape of your product, the pattern on your fabric, the ornamentation on your packaging — if it is new and has never been disclosed anywhere in the world before you file, it can be registered as a design and protected from copying for up to 15 years. Most businesses assume a trademark or a patent covers this. Neither does.
Understanding the Service
Under Section 2(d) of the Designs Act 2000, a 'design' means only the features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament, or composition of lines or colours applied to an article — whether in two or three dimensions, or both — by any industrial process or means, which in the finished article appeal to and are judged solely by the eye. Critically, this excludes any mode or principle of construction, or anything that is purely functional and does not appeal to the eye — a design registration cannot protect how something works, only how it looks. It also excludes trademarks, property marks, and artistic works already covered under the Copyright Act 1957.
For the full scope, current process and what PNPC includes, see the dedicated Design Registration, Objection & Renewal service page.
When You'd Need This
- You have created a new shape, surface pattern, or visual configuration for a product — furniture, packaging, footwear, consumer electronics housing, jewellery, textile prints, automotive components, or any manufactured article — that has not yet been publicly disclosed anywhere
- The visual appeal of your product is a genuine commercial differentiator and a competitor copying the look (not the underlying function) would materially harm your sales
- You are about to launch a product at a trade fair, retail listing, or e-commerce platform and want protection locked in before public disclosure destroys the novelty available to you
- You manufacture for export — particularly to the UAE, EU, or US — and need India-side design protection as the foundation for parallel or Hague-route filings abroad
What This Doesn't Cover
- The feature you want to protect is purely functional — how a mechanism works, not how it looks — this requires a patent under the Patents Act 1970, not a design registration, since Section 2(d) expressly excludes any mode or principle of construction
- You want to protect a brand name, logo, or word mark that identifies the source of goods — this is trademark territory under the Trade Marks Act 1999, a completely separate registration
- Your product has already been publicly disclosed, sold, or exhibited (outside the narrow 6-month exhibition exception) more than 6 months ago — the design has likely lost the absolute novelty required for registration, and filing now carries a high risk of refusal or later cancellation
Questions We're Actually Asked
What exactly counts as a 'design' under Indian law — and what does not?
Under Section 2(d) of the Designs Act 2000, a design means the features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament, or composition of lines or colours applied to an article, in two or three dimensions, that appeal to and are judged solely by the eye in the finished article. It specifically excludes any mode or principle of construction (how the article works or is built), anything dictated purely by function with no eye appeal, trademarks, property marks, and artistic works already protected under the Copyright Act 1957. In short: design law protects how a mass-manufactured article looks, not how it works and not a brand name applied to it.
What is the 'novelty' requirement and why is it described as absolute?
A design must be new or original and must not have been published, used, or otherwise disclosed to the public anywhere in India or elsewhere before the date of filing. This is an absolute (worldwide) novelty standard, not limited to prior disclosure in India — a design shown at an overseas trade fair, or posted on an international marketplace, can destroy novelty just as effectively as a domestic disclosure. There is a narrow exception under Section 21: disclosure at a notified/recognised industrial or other exhibition does not destroy novelty provided the application is filed within 6 months of that disclosure. Outside that exception, there is no general grace period for ordinary commercial sale or marketing.
How is design registration different from a patent?
A patent under the Patents Act 1970 protects a functional invention — a novel process, mechanism, or technical solution, irrespective of how it looks. A design registration protects only the visual appearance — shape, pattern, or ornamentation — irrespective of how it functions. The same product can sometimes warrant both: a genuinely novel internal mechanism might be patentable, while the external shape and surface ornamentation of the housing is separately registrable as a design. The two applications, procedures, examination standards, and government offices (though both sit under the CGPDTM) are entirely distinct.
Getting This Right From the Start
Before you launch, exhibit, or list your new product anywhere, speak with a PNPC Chartered Accountant about design protection. We will assess your novelty position honestly, confirm your DPIIT/MSME fee eligibility, and make sure your filing date is locked in before any public disclosure puts your registrability at risk.
PNPC Global has advised Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad businesses since 1986. Explore the full IPR practice for related services, or go straight to the Design Registration, Objection & Renewal page for specifics.
Specific rates, fees, thresholds and deadlines are set by the relevant authority and change over time — this article deliberately does not quote figures that could go stale. Confirm current numbers directly with PNPC or the official source before you act.