New Case Study: Overlap Between Industrial Design and Copyright Protection in India

In this new case study, we explore why in India copyright and industrial design protections are not complementary and how to act in order to avoid problems with the protection of your designs.

At the core of the case study is an independent European boutique designer, who - having developed goodwill and a reputation associated with a quality and unique clothing design in Europe - decided to expand its business operations to India as it had identified a high demand for international good quality designer products. From its experience in the European market, the designer was aware that clothing designs and sketches are automatically protected under copyright laws from the moment of their creation as mandated by the Berne Convention. The EU designer saw that India was also signatory of the Berne Convention, and therefore did not register its designs in India.

However, as the EU designer’s brand gained a growing reputation in India, it came to its attention that a local brand had started to copy its designs and sell look-alike clothes for substantially lower prices.