Design Law and Copyright Law Conflict in India

Abstract

Section 15(1) of the Copyright Act categorically prohibits copyright protection if a design is registered under the Design Act. Further, sub-section 2 of Section 15 states that, if a design is capable of being registered under the Designs Act but the same has not been registered, such design will cease to have copyright protection as soon as an article to which such design is applied is reproduced more than 50 times by an industrial process. Section 2(d) of The Designs Act excludes any artistic work as defined in Section 2(c) of the Copyright Act from the definition of ‘design’ under the Designs Act.