Introduction
In India, the protection available under the Intellectual
Property laws extends to Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks,
Geographical Indications, and Designs. An Industrialist engaged in
the production of any “article” usually spends a
considerable amount of resources in its “design” to
distinguish it from the “articles” of its competitors.
To protect the interests of such Industrialists, the Patents &
Designs Protection Act of 1872 became the
first Indian legislation to protect Industrial Designs.
Over the years, several changes were made to the aforesaid piece of
legislation.
In 1995, India became a “member State” of the WTO
and the Designs Act of 2000 (hereinafter referred to as the Act)
was enacted by the Legislature to ensure that the Indian Designs
Law is in consonance with
TRIPS. In addition to this, the Act also intended to
increase the efficiency of the existing law by incorporating the
changes made by the progress in the field of science
