Design Rules Amendment, 2021

THE DESIGN RULES AMENDMENT, (2021) – A SUMMARY

The Government of India and Ministry of Commerce & Industry notified the Design Rules Amendment of 2021 in the Official Gazette of India on January 25, 2021.

The amendments to the Design Rules can be broadly classified under four headings:

EMPHASIS ON THE START-UPS & SMALL ENTITIES:

• The amended rules now officially recognize and define a “start-up” and “small entities”. The rules have been framed to classify which entities will be recognised and can apply for design registration as a start-up.

• The fee structure has been simplified and there is reduction in the fees for small entities. All categories such as natural person, small entities, start-ups etc. will pay the same fees.

• Indian start-ups must be registered under the MSME ACT, 2006 and foreign entities to qualify as a start-up must submit relevant documents to prove their status.

• In case assignment of rights from start-up to another entity the difference in application fees will have to be paid.

AGENTS / ADDRESS ON RECORD DETAILS:

• Email and Phone numbers are now to be considered part of the address of service details and mandatorily be submitted in the design application.

LOCARNO CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

• The Locarno classification system has now been officially adopted under the Design Rules. Up until now India had been following their own classification system. (Provided that registration of any design would be subject to the fulfilment of provisions of the Act specifically 2(a) and 2(d)).

CHANGES IN THE COST

• Schedule I, which specifies the fees, has been substituted. The revised Schedule now provides for differences in costs which may be imposed depending on the nature of the entities involved in proceedings. Similarly, the scale of Costs in Fourth Schedule has been substituted to include costs which depend on the nature/category of the applicant.

• In Schedule II, Form 1 has been substituted with amended FORM 1. The amendment is minor and is made to include start-ups as an applicant category. Similarly, Form 24 has also been substituted to incorporate start-ups as a category of applicants.

The main purpose of the amendments seems to be overall positive with aim to make the design registration process simple and streamlined.