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Unit 8: World Trade Organization
embodying a design which is a copy, or substantially a copy, of the protected design, when notes
such acts are undertaken for commercial purposes.
2. The duration of protection available shall amount to at least 10 years. (The Indian Designs
Act, 2000, also provides the same protection of 10 years)
indian Designs act
The existing legislation on industrial designs in India is contained in the Designs Act, 2000.
Among other things, the Act mentions the following:
l z ‘Article’ means any article of manufacture and any substance, artificial, or partly artificial
and partly natural and includes any part of an article being made and sold separately.
l z ‘Design’ means only the features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament or composition
of lines or colours applied to any article whether in two dimensional or three dimensional
or in both forms, by any industrial process or means, whether manual, mechanical, or
chemical, separate or combined, which in the finished article appeal to and are judged
solely by the eye.
l z “Prohibition of Registration of Certain Designs”
A design will not be registered:
z If it is not new or original; or
z If it has been disclosed to the public anywhere in India or in any other country by
publication in any tangible form or by use or in any other way prior to the filing
date; or
z If it is not significantly distinguishable from known designs or combination of known
designs; or
z If it comprises or contains scandalous or obscene material.
The copyright of a registered design will extend for 10 years from the date of registration,
extendable on an application from the registered proprietor for a second period of five
years from the expiration of the original period.
TRIPS and Control of Anti-competitive Practices: Under Section 8 regarding ‘Control of
Anti-competitive practices in Commercial Licenses’ there is recognition “that some licensing
practices or conditions pertaining to intellectual property rights which restrain competition may
have adverse effects on trade and may impede the transfer and dimension of technology”.
Thus members are allowed to specify in their legislation licensing practices or conditions that
may in particular cases constitute an abuse of intellectual property rights having an adverse
effect on competition in the relevant market.
sanitary and Phytosanitary (sPs) agreement
The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures - also known as the
SPS Agreement was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade, and entered into force with the establishment of the WTO at the beginning of 1995.
Under the SPS agreement, the WTO sets constraints on members’ policies relating to food safety
(bacterial contaminants, pesticides, inspection and labelling) as well as animal and plant health
(imported pests and diseases).
SPS & Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs): In 2003, the United States challenged a number
of EU laws restricting the importation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), arguing they
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