The Designs (Amendment) Rules, 2014 has been published by the Government of India, Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) by notification in Part-II, Section 3, Sub-Section (i) of the Gazette of India, Extraordinary on December 30, 2014 and has been made effective from the date of publication. The said rules are available on the official website of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion www.dipp.nic.in and of the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks www.ipindia.nic.in.
The salient aspects of the amended rules include:
- A revised fee structure has been provided for filing of Design application as well as other proceedings under the Designs Act in the First as well as Fourth Schedule of the amended rules.
- Two main categories of applicants for designs have been introduced as “natural person” and “other than natural person(s)”. The second category of applicants i.e. “other than natural person(s)” has been further divided into two sub-categories viz., “small entity” and “others except small entity”. The fees for “small entity” have been fixed in between the fees for a natural person and for all persons other than natural persons (except a small entity). The criteria for “small entity” have been elaborated in the amended rules.
- Revised Form l to 23 have been introduced-The Second Schedule.
- A new Form-24 has been introduced in the rules, which has to accompany every new application. For subsequent documents for which a fee has been specified and for which the fee applicable for a small entity is claimed, it should be ensured that Form-24 is filed at-least once against the application number. In case of any change of status of the applicant(s) such that the benefit derived by the applicant due to its claimed status does not remain valid or applicable, it will be the responsibility of the applicant(s) to inform the Patent Office about the said change.
- In case an application processed by a natural Person is fully or partly transferred to a person other than a natural Person, the difference, if any, in the scale of fee(s) between the fee(s) charged from a natural Person and the fee(s) chargeable from the person other than a natural person in the same matter, shall be paid by the new applicant with the request for transfer.
- In case an application processed by a small entity is fully or partly transferred to a person other than a natural person (except a small entity), the difference, if any, in the scale of fee(s) between the fee(s) charged from a small entity and the fee(s) chargeable from the person other than a natural person (except a small entity) in the same matter, shall be paid by the new applicant with the request for transfer.
The new fee structure has come into effect concurrently with the publication of these rules.
It is clarified that, in case of joint applicants, the highest fee category of the applicant among the joint applicants will be taken into consideration for the purpose of fee calculation.
It shall be the sole responsibility of the applicant(s) to select the correct category of applicant and file all supporting documents in respect thereof while filing an application or other documents. Failure of this may attract the provisions of section 24(2) of the Designs Act, 2000.
A registered design entered into the Register of designs by making any false suggestion or false representation as to the status as small entity may attract the provisions of section 31 of the Designs Act, 2000.
