Designs Database Goes Digital: Designs E-Register Now Available Online

• Published date: 06 August 2021
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Copyright, Patent
• Law Firm: Obhan & Associates
• Author: Mr Essenese Obhan and Sneha Agarwal

The Designs office has now made its register electronically available, thus joining the ranks of the Patents E-register, making the database of registered designs available in entirety. The Designs E-register went live on 5 August 2021, and is available here: https://search.ipindia.gov.in/DesignApplicationStatus/DesignEregister/index .

The Designs E-register is a step up from the online database of registered designs, which has been available on the website of the Intellectual Property Office for some time already. The database that was already available contained only cursory and limited information on registered designs. Previously, if a person needed any degree of detailed information regarding a registered design, they had to file a request for inspection of the physical Register of Designs, accompanied with the prescribed fee, to obtain the details.

With the availability of the Designs E-register, such additional information on registered designs is now accessible to any person in a few clicks, without going through the formal and sometimes tedious process of requesting for an inspection of the physical register. The additional information currently available includes the status of the design application (in force/ lapsed) and the address for service. It is also expected that additional details such as renewal of copyright, assignments, and transmissions of registered design will be available once the E-register becomes fully active. This additional information is in line with Section 10 of the Designs Act, 2000 ("the Act"), which provides for...