What is Not a Design? :

As stated in the definition of the design above, design does not include:

(i) any trademark, as defined in Section 2(zb) of the Trademarks Act, 1999, or

(ii) any property mark, as defined in Section 479 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, or

(iii) any artistic work, as defined in Section 2(c) of the Copyright Act, 1957.

Artistic Work means

(i) A painting, sculpture, drawing (including a diagram, map, chart or plan), an engraving or a photograph, whether or not any such work possesses artistic quality.

(ii) Any work of architecture i.e. any building or structure having an artistic character or design or any mode for such building or structure.

(iii) Any work of artistic craftsmanship (Section 2(c)).

An illustrative list of non-registrable designs is as under:

• book jackets, calendars, certificates, forms and other documents.

• dress making patterns, greeting cards, leaflets, maps and plan cards.

• post cards, stamps and medals.

• labels, tokens, cards and cartoons.

• any principle or mode of construction of an article.

• mere workshop alterations of components of an assembly.

• mere change in size of article.

• flags, emblems or signs of any country.

• layout designs of integrated circuits.