DESIGN

A very effective alternative way of protecting your product is by securing design registration. However, one does get confused by inter-relation of Design with Copyright.

A design can be protected by copyright, however not many knows that if the design is reproduced by more than 50 copies then it loses its copyright.

A Design in order to get protection must be registered. The term of a design registration in India is for 10 years only.

The term can be extended for another five years by paying renewal fee. Thus the cumulative term is not more than 15 years.
In order to obtain a design registration the utility of the design should not be relied upon or cited. The criterion should be aesthetic factor of the Design.