February 2016 Woman At Work Digital

to an article or intended to be applied
by industrial process or means. To
understand this, let’s take an example
of a tissue paper holder. A new design
can imply new appearance, shape or
configuration.
The scope of protection of
Industrial designs varies from
packaging, handicrafts, furnishing,
textiles, jewelry, utility products,
appliances, Graphic symbols and
logos, surface patterns, ornamentation
to furniture. As per the IPO (Indian
Patent Office) the registration of a
design confers upon the registered
proprietor ‘Copyright’ in the design
for the period of registration. Here
‘Copyright’ means the exclusive right
to apply a design to the article
belonging to the class in which it is
registered. A proprietor of an ID
(Industrial Design) can apply for the
registration of that design. The rights
offered by an industrial design can
protect shape, configuration, and
pattern of lines etc. that is applied to
an article. In general, the ID protects
the aesthetics that is visible to the eye
of a viewer. The ID may not be able
to protect an invention or technical
solution or functionality or inventive
concept of a product or technical
features present inside the product.
It is worthwhile to note that the
protection conferred by ID is limited
to the applications of the design.
There are generally 32 classes in
which one can protect an industrial
design. This classification (popularly
referred as Locarno Classification) is
an alphabetical list of goods which
constitute industrial designs, with an
indication of the classes and
subclasses into which they fall.
Generally the proprietor or the lawyer
of the proprietor selects one or more
classes depending upon the nature of
use and application of the design.
For example, suppose a designer
designs a set of gloves with integrated
scrubber (Gloves-Scrubber) for
washing utensils in the gloves. After
registration, the right will be limited
to the shape and configuration of
the product. Another designer may
create a set of ‘Scrubber Gloves’
with a completely different shape
and configuration. Here, one should
note that the owner of the registered
design can only protect the shape
and configuration developed by her.
However, such design neither
provides protection to the
technology of making the glove or
method of fusing scrubber with
gloves. Further, the registered
design may not be able to protect
the technical or functional features
of the product. The owner may
consider patent registration in
addition to design registration to
seek protection for technology
involved with regard to such
product. In this case it is
recommended to protect the design
of the Gloves-Scrubber in the
classes of gloves as well as
scrubbers. The proprietor will have
the protection in the two classes.
The owner of a registered
design has the right to prevent third
parties from making, selling or
importing articles bearing or
embodying a design which is a copy
of the protected design, when such
acts are undertaken for commercial
purposes.
Although the rights conferred by
the patent and design registration
are similar but nature of protection
is different. Let’s understand in
details on the meaning of violation
of rights of a registered design or
piracy of designs. If a registered
design or its imitation is applied to
any article in the same class of
article of registered design without
the written consent of the registered
proprietor for the purpose of selling
or importing that article then such
acts amounts to piracy of the
registered design.
It is to be noted that any artistic
work protectable under copyrights
will not get protection that a
registered design receives. For
example, a painting, a sculpture, a
drawing, a photograph should be
protected by Copyrights and not by
the provisions of ID. So any new
design that is appealing to the eye
and that is new, can be protected
under the provisions of Industrial
Design in India and if required the
protection may be extended beyond
national boundaries in the countries
of interest. We should recommend
creative artists or product designers
around us so as to protect their
creative designs before disclosing
them to public. The owner of the
design may enjoy the exclusivity for
a term of 10 years from the date of
filing which is further extendable by
another five years. And then the
protected designs would be
commercialized by licensing the
rights to use the registered design.
Design registration confers
non-exclusive rights to the owner of
the design. The design registration
should not be confused with the
patent registration.
anand@krishnaandsaurastri.com
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| February 2016