What are the Benefits of Design Registration in India?

An industrial design can add some extra value to a product, and it can also make the product attractive and engaging to customers, and it may even be its distinctive selling point. Thus, protecting precious designs should be an essential part of the business strategy of any manufacturer or designer. To protect an industrial design, you need to obtain Design Registration; the owner of Design gets the exclusive right to avoid its illegal usage, copying or duplication by others. This makes sense as it improves the business competitiveness and often brings in additional revenue. In this blog, we are going to discuss the benefits of Design Registration in India.

What is Design Registration and its Importance?

Before we discuss the benefits of Design Registration, let’s understand the meaning of Design Registration and the importance of the same. The Design has an increasingly vital role at the time of the creation process. It is clear that a product’s Design can have its own place on the market. This is not only for three-dimensional objects such as bikes, tea packs, bowls, etc., but it also applies to two-dimensional designs like diagrams, wallpapers, logos, etc.

With the help of Design Registration, the visual representation of products or packaging is safeguarded. Many businesses depend on Copyright (which occurs automatically and commonly) to deliver enough coverage. In an argument, however, the other party will challenge the existence of Copyright. Hence, Design Registration is the best alternative to prove the existence of rights. In case of a disagreement, the court will assume the legal validity of a Design Registration.

The different character of a design is another factor and can be explained as the designer adding something distinctive or creative to the product. Through this specific aspect, the new product takes its own place between all present products; it doesn’t apply to the functional elements (how the product shape may be beneficial), but especially to the distinctive aesthetic factors which give the product its value.

Importance of Design registration

A Design Registration basically products the aspects of a product such as its patterns, shape, Design, and ornamental. Various Patent authorities have their own regulations and procedures for Design Registration. In India, registration is done under the Designs Act 2000^[1], which offers registered designs ten years of Design protection with the extra renewal of five years. Protection of Design is an effective method to safeguard industrial and product designs from copying or duplication amidst rigid market competition.

As per the report of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation), over the past nine years, there have been around 65,447 industrial design applications from India, and out of 65,447, around 51,225 applications have been registered. This only goes to prove the growing importance and effectiveness of Design Registration which boosts companies and investors to invest their money & time in safeguarding their designs.

Benefits of Design Registration

Since it is obvious that registration of Design is quite familiar nowadays, let us take a look at some benefits of Design Registration under a particular Patent authority. Besides the evident benefits of gaining protection from imitators, the following are some other benefits of Design Registration:

1. Ability to Sue: When a design is successfully registered, the design owners have the right to file litigation against any imitator. This makes sure that the owner of Design is able to hold their market share by maintaining exclusivity over their product or industrial Design. As of 2019, the trade-in imitation goods stands at 3.3% of the overall world trade that means registering designs grants entities the power to litigate the rising number of counterfeiters.
2. Extended Validity: A certificate of Design Registration is valid for ten years, and after that, the validity can be further renewed or extended up to the next five years.
3. Legal Protection Against Plagiarism: This is one of the essential benefits of Design Registration. The registration process of Design restricts other companies to copy, sell, distribute, or reproduce their products bearing a similar Design to the original one.
4. Increased Commercial value: Design Registration under a Patent authority boots its commercial value and makes the product more marketable. This is because a product having an owner design increases product positioning in the viewpoint of potential customers.
5. Fair Market Competition: On an extensive outlook, when an immense number of innovators register their designs, it adds some competitive spirit among the market players. This forces the R&D activities, which in turn encourages further innovation n and mutual benefits for organisations and customers.
6. Induce Customer Response: Another one of the essential benefits of Design Registration is that it just appeals to the customers and is judged or examined solely by the eye.
7. Return on Investment: Upon registering a Design, the applicant company or organisation gains the exclusive right to commercialise their product. It also adds to their IP (Intellectual Property) portfolio and boosts their intangible assets. These assets often create extra revenue streams and thus lead to high returns on investment.
8. Product Differentiation: A registered design is followed by all the relevant documents comprising the concept and design art that makes it unique. This basically gives the owner of the design a competitive edge in their respective market from a perfect business model outlook.
9. Ability to License-Out: Design owners who have their designs registered under a particular Patent authority gain the ability to license out their designs to external manufacturers. They can do this within their particular Patent jurisdiction to benefits from the profitable royalties paid by the licensee organisation.

Conclusion

With some benefits of Design Registration, it is vital to repeat that the rules & regulations for the Design Registration vary across different IP jurisdictions. While WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) may have definite fixed rules, the IPO (Indian Patent Office) has its own guidelines. Hence, it is recommendable to know all the rules & regulations of a particular jurisdiction before applying for Design registration.

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