AIPLA Submits Comments to the India Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade on the Designs Act Amendment

The proposed amendments relate to the protectability of virtual and dynamic designs and the availability of a grace period for pre-filing disclosures of a design in India; the option to include multiple designs in a single Indian design application, to file divisional design applications, and to defer publication of an Indian design application; and India’s potential accession to the Hague Agreement and the Riyadh Design Law Treaty.

AIPLA’s comments support amending the Designs Act to make it clear that non-physical digital designs like graphical user interface designs and animated designs are protectable subject matter in India, regardless of whether they are embodied in a physical article, and to expand the available grace period to 12 months. AIPLA’s comments also support provisions for including multiple designs in a single Indian design application, filing divisional design applications, deferring publication of an Indian design application to at least 30 months from the earliest effective filing date, introducing statutory damages for willful infringement, and India’s accession to the Hague Agreement and the Riyadh Design Law Treaty.