By Amita Arora

The Designs (Amendment) Rules, 2021, have come into force on January 25, 2021.

The main features of the Amendment Rules are:

Inclusion of startups

Startups have been recognized as a category of applicant.

For claiming the status of a start-up, an Indian company has to produce the certificate of recognition from Department for Promotion of Industrial Policy and Internal Trade.

In the case of foreign entities, the entity has to fulfil the criteria for turnover and period of incorporation or registration as per Startup India Initiative and submitting declaration to that effect. Further, an affidavit as evidence of eligibility along with supporting document needs to be filed.

Two-tier fee structure

Earlier, the fee structure was a three tier structure, depending on whether the applicant was a natural person, small entity, or a large entity. However, under the present Rules, this has been simplified to a two-tier system, wherein the official fee for all natural persons, small entities, and startups is the same.

Service by email and mobile phone

The Amendment Rules now direct to provide an Indian cell phone number and email address in application Form 1 at the time of filing the application.

The difference in fees to be paid in cases of transfer of rights

In case an application processed by a natural person, startup or small entity is fully or partly transferred to a large entity, the difference, if any, in the scale of fees between the fees charged from the natural person, startup or small entity and the fees applicable for the new entity are to be paid by the new applicant along with the request for transfer.

Notably, in cases where a startup or small entity ceases to be a startup or a small entity due to the lapse of the period during which it is recognised by the competent authority, or its turnover subsequently crosses the financial threshold limit as notified by the competent authority, NO such difference in the scale of fees shall be payable.

Locarno classification system

The Amendment Rules pave way to adopt the Locarno Classification published by WIPO.

However, the relevant section also includes a proviso that registration of any design would be subject to the fulfilment of provisions of the Act specifically 2(a) and 2(d).