Design Law Primer and Yearbook (2023-2024)

The look-and-feel of an article usually plays a key role in influencing consumers at the time of purchase, and proprietors typically expend significant sums of money towards developing and conceiving a profitable design. The law of designs in India is intended to protect the visual appeal and the aesthetic elements of a particular article, provided the design is new or original. The object, therefore, is to vest in the proprietor an exclusive right to use a particular design to the exclusion of third parties. This exclusive right not only allows a proprietor to prevent third parties from misappropriating his registered design, but also serves as an incentive for continued innovation. [Bharat Glass Tube Limited vs. Gopal Glass Works Limited (2008) 10 SCC 657]