India is on the brink of a transformative shift in intellectual property law. The proposed amendments to the Designs Act, 2000, released in January 2026, promise to reshape how designers, startups, and businesses protect their creative work in the digital age.
If you’ve ever wondered whether your mobile app’s sleek interface, animated icons, or virtual reality designs deserve legal protection in India, the answer is about to become a resounding yes.
Why These Amendments Matter Now
India’s design filing landscape has exploded. In 2024 alone, India registered a staggering 43.2% increase in design applications, the fastest growth rate among the top 20 jurisdictions globally. We jumped from 11th to 7th position worldwide, with over 12,160 design applications filed.
This surge isn’t random. It reflects India’s booming startup ecosystem, the Make in India initiative’s success, and businesses finally recognizing that good design isn’t just aesthetic—it’s a strategic asset worth protecting.
But here’s the problem: the current Designs Act was written in 2000, when “design” meant something you could touch. Today’s designs live on screens, in apps, and increasingly in virtual worlds. The law hasn’t kept up with reality.
Proposal 1: Protection for Virtual Designs
The most revolutionary change? India will finally protect virtual designs, GUIs, and digital interfaces under design law.
Currently, the Designs Act requires designs to be applied to physical “articles.” This outdated requirement leaves digital designers in legal limbo. Your beautifully crafted app interface, those custom icons users love, or your innovative GUI design? Technically unclear whether they’re protected.
The amendments propose redefining “article” and “design” to explicitly include:
- Graphical user interfaces (GUIs)
- Icons and graphic symbols
- Animated designs and transitions
- Augmented reality interfaces
- Virtual products in the metaverse
- Screen-based designs of all types
This isn’t just catching up with global trends—it’s essential for India’s tech sector. Over 92% of countries globally already protect GUIs under design laws. The EU recently updated its framework to cover animations and virtual products. The UK, Australia, and Hong Kong are all moving in this direction.
What this means for you: If you’re developing apps, designing digital products, or creating virtual experiences, your visual design work will finally get the legal protection it deserves. Competitors won’t be able to copy your interface designs without consequences.
Proposal 2: Full 12-Month Grace Period
Ever accidentally revealed your design before filing for protection and panicked? The new amendments introduce a full 12-month grace period—a massive upgrade from the current 6-month limited exception.
Here’s what’s changing:
Current law: Only disclosures at government-notified exhibitions get a 6-month grace period. Disclose anywhere else? You’ve destroyed your own novelty and can’t register.
Proposed law: Any disclosure—online launches, investor pitches, crowdfunding campaigns, pilot sales, social media posts—gets a 12-month grace period before filing.
This is huge for startups and MSMEs who often reveal designs before understanding legal implications. You can test market response, gather feedback, and validate your product before investing in formal registration.
Real-world impact: A fashion designer posts their new jewelry collection on Instagram. Under current law, they’ve potentially killed their registration rights. Under the new law, they have 12 months to file and still claim those designs as novel.
Proposal 3: Deferred Publication (Up to 30 Months)
Smart businesses don’t want competitors seeing their designs before products hit the market. The amendments introduce deferred publication for up to 30 months.
Currently, designs are published immediately upon registration, telegraphing your plans to everyone, including competitors who might rush knockoffs to market before your official launch.
The new system lets you:
- File for design protection early
- Keep designs confidential during development
- Launch your product strategically without tipping off copycats
- Time publication to match marketing campaigns
This is particularly valuable for industries with long development cycles—consumer electronics, automobiles, fashion collections, or any product requiring tooling, molds, and regulatory approvals before launch.
Important safeguard: To protect innocent third parties, the law will include an “innocent infringer defense” during the deferment period. If someone unknowingly copies your unpublished design, they won’t face retrospective damages, though courts can still stop future infringement once they know about your registration.
Statutory Damages: Making Infringement Actually Costly
Currently, design infringement enforcement is weak. The amendments propose statutory damages up to ₹50 lakhs for willful infringement, with enhanced penalties for repeat offenders.
This matters because proving actual damages is often difficult and expensive. Statutory damages give courts a predictable framework for awarding compensation even when specific monetary losses are hard to calculate.
For designers, this means infringement becomes genuinely costly for violators, creating real deterrence.
Shorter But Renewable Protection Terms: 5+5+5 Years
Instead of the current 10+5 year term, protection will shift to three 5-year renewal periods (5+5+5).
This aligns with the Hague Agreement and creates flexibility. Why pay to maintain protection for designs that are no longer commercially relevant? The staged system lets valuable designs stay protected while allowing outdated ones to enter the public domain sooner.
For businesses managing large design portfolios, this means strategic renewal decisions that match commercial reality.
Multiple Designs Per Application
Filing separate applications for every design variant is expensive and cumbersome. The amendments allow multiple designs in a single application if they fall in the same Locarno class.
Developing a product line with several design variations? File them together, save money on filing fees, and reduce administrative burden. This particularly benefits startups and individual designers with limited budgets.
Division of Applications: Flexibility When You Need It
If examination raises issues with one design in a multi-design application, you shouldn’t lose protection for the other valid designs. The amendments introduce divisional applications following the Design Law Treaty.
This procedural flexibility means objections to one design don’t block your entire application, protecting your rights over other valid designs while issues are resolved.
Solving the Design-Copyright Overlap Confusion
The design-copyright interface has been a litigation nightmare. The amendments propose clarifying that unregistered designs capable of registration get copyright protection for only 15 years, rather than the copyright term of lifetime plus 60 years.
This prevents designers from circumventing design law’s shorter terms by claiming perpetual copyright over what’s essentially design subject matter. It balances protection with public access and reduces legal uncertainty.
International Integration: Hague Agreement Access
India proposes acceding to the Hague Agreement, allowing designers to protect their work in multiple countries through a single international application filed via WIPO.
Currently, protecting designs internationally means filing separate applications in each country—expensive, complex, and administratively burdensome. The Hague System simplifies this dramatically.
Benefits for Indian designers: File one application, designate multiple countries, pay one set of fees, manage everything centrally. Perfect for export-oriented industries, fashion designers, and tech companies with global ambitions.
Benefits for foreign designers: They can designate India in their international applications, integrating India deeper into the global design ecosystem and encouraging cross-border collaboration.
Riyadh Design Law Treaty Alignment
The amendments align Indian law with the Design Law Treaty (DLT), which India signed in 2024. This means:
- Simplified documentation requirements
- Time relief for missed deadlines due to unintentional errors
- Priority claim corrections and restorations
- Streamlined renewal procedures
- Improved ease of doing business
These procedural improvements particularly benefit MSMEs, startups, and individual designers who may lack sophisticated IP management systems.
What This Means for Different Stakeholders
For App Developers and Tech Startups: Your GUI designs, icons, animations, and user interfaces finally get clear legal protection. You can prevent competitors from creating confusingly similar interfaces.
For Gaming Companies: Virtual assets, character designs, animated elements, and immersive environments gain protection. This is crucial as gaming and metaverse economies grow.
For Fashion and Jewelry Designers: The grace period lets you showcase collections before filing, while deferred publication prevents knockoffs before your official launch.
For E-commerce and Fintech: Your app’s distinctive visual identity—the thing that makes users recognize your brand instantly—becomes a protected asset.
For MSMEs and Individual Designers: Reduced costs through multiple design filings, grace periods for accidental disclosures, and time relief for procedural mistakes make the system more accessible.
For Foreign Businesses: Hague Agreement access makes India an easier jurisdiction to protect designs, encouraging international investment and collaboration.
The Timeline and Next Steps
These are proposed amendments currently undergoing stakeholder consultation. The government is seeking feedback on core concepts before drafting final legislative language.
If you’re a designer, business owner, or IP professional, this is your moment to engage with the process. The consultation period allows industry input to shape final provisions.
Expected implementation timeline, though not officially announced, likely falls within 2026-2027, giving time for legislative drafting, parliamentary approval, and rule-making.
Why India Is Making These Changes Now
Three driving forces are behind these amendments:
Economic reality: Design-intensive sectors—fashion, automobiles, electronics, packaging, digital products—are growing rapidly. Good design creates competitive advantage, and businesses need legal tools to protect their investments.
Technological evolution: When the current Act passed in 2000, smartphones didn’t exist. Social media didn’t exist. The metaverse wasn’t even science fiction. Law must reflect how innovation actually happens today.
Global competitiveness: As Prime Minister Modi articulated, India aims to be a hub for “Design in India, Design for the World.” Achieving that vision requires a legal framework matching international best practices while serving domestic needs.
Potential Challenges and Considerations
While these amendments are overwhelmingly positive, some considerations remain:
Defining “virtual designs” precisely in legal language will be crucial. Overly broad definitions might capture functional software features that shouldn’t qualify. Too narrow, and the protection becomes meaningless.
Balancing grace periods with third-party rights requires careful thought. While 12-month grace periods help designers, they create uncertainty for others who might independently develop similar designs during that window.
Deferred publication must be implemented carefully to protect innocent third parties who unknowingly copy unpublished designs.
Statutory damages need appropriate calibration—high enough to deter infringement but not so extreme they’re unjust for small-scale or unintentional violations.
These aren’t fatal flaws, just areas requiring thoughtful drafting as proposals become law.
How to Prepare for These Changes
If you’re creating digital products:
- Document your design development process with timestamps
- Keep records of when designs were created and by whom
- Consider filing for protection even before finalizing products
- Start thinking about which designs deserve registration versus which don’t
If you manage design portfolios:
- Audit existing designs for commercial relevance to renewal decisions
- Plan international filing strategies anticipating Hague access
If you’re a startup or MSME:
- Take advantage of grace periods to validate designs before registration costs
- Plan to use multiple-design applications to reduce filing expenses
- Consider how deferred publication fits your launch strategies
If you work with foreign partners:
- Understand how Hague Agreement access will simplify international protection
- Plan cross-border design strategies now rather than reacting later
The Bigger Picture: India’s IP Evolution
These design law amendments are part of India’s broader intellectual property modernization. Recent years have seen trademark law reforms, patent procedure improvements, and copyright updates addressing digital challenges.
The pattern is clear: India is building an IP ecosystem that supports innovation, respects creators, aligns with international norms, and serves the digital economy’s needs.
For designers and businesses, this creates an environment where investing in original design makes economic sense because legal protection actually works.
Final Thoughts
The proposed amendments to India’s Designs Act represent the most significant design law reform in decades. From finally protecting virtual designs to introducing grace periods and deferred publication, these changes transform design registration from a rigid, outdated formality into a flexible tool that matches how modern businesses actually innovate.
For India’s 90% domestic applicants—the startups, MSMEs, fashion designers, tech entrepreneurs, and individual creators driving that 43.2% growth—these amendments mean their creative work in the digital age finally gets the protection it deserves.
As these proposals move through consultation to legislation, one thing is clear: India’s design ecosystem is evolving to meet the future. Whether you’re creating app interfaces, virtual products, or traditional designs, understanding these changes positions you to protect your innovations effectively in the years ahead.
Need Expert Help With Design Registration?
Navigating design law, especially with major changes ahead, requires specialized intellectual property expertise. Don’t risk losing protection for your valuable designs through procedural mistakes or inadequate applications.
Visit My Legal Pal.com to connect with design law experts who understand both current law and upcoming changes.
Protect your designs before competitors copy them. Get professional help today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the proposed Design Act Amendment 2026 in India?
The proposed amendments to the Designs Act, 2000 represent comprehensive modernization of India’s design protection framework. Key changes include extending protection to virtual designs and graphical user interfaces, introducing a full 12-month grace period for disclosures made before filing, allowing deferred publication of designs for up to 30 months, implementing statutory damages up to 50 lakh rupees for willful infringement, and enabling India’s accession to the Hague Agreement for international design registration. These amendments aim to align Indian design law with digital economy realities and international best practices.
Will GUIs and app interfaces be protected under the new Design Act?
Yes, this is one of the most significant changes. The amendments propose redefining “article” and “design” to explicitly include graphical user interfaces, icons, animated designs, augmented reality interfaces, and other virtual products. This means app developers, software companies, and digital designers will finally have clear legal protection for their interface designs, screen layouts, and digital visual elements. Currently, protection for GUIs exists in a legal gray area, but the new law will remove all ambiguity and provide the same robust protection that physical product designs receive.
What is the 12-month grace period and how does it help designers?
The proposed 12-month grace period allows designers to publicly disclose their designs and still file for registration within 12 months without losing novelty. This means you can launch products online, showcase at events, post on social media, run crowdfunding campaigns, make investor presentations, or conduct pilot sales without immediately destroying your registration rights. Currently, only disclosures at government-notified exhibitions get a limited 6-month grace period. The new blanket grace period regardless of disclosure type particularly benefits startups, MSMEs, and individual designers who often lack awareness about strict novelty requirements and accidentally disclose designs before filing.
What is deferred publication and why would I use it?
Deferred publication allows you to file for design protection but delay public disclosure of your registered design for up to 30 months from the filing date. This keeps your design confidential during critical development phases before product launch. Industries with long development cycles such as consumer electronics, automobiles, fashion, and products requiring extensive tooling or regulatory approvals benefit significantly. Deferred publication prevents competitors from seeing your designs before your product reaches market, reducing the risk of knockoffs launching simultaneously with or before your official release. You maintain legal protection while keeping strategic advantages of confidentiality.
How will statutory damages work under the new Design Act?
The amendments propose statutory damages up to 50 lakh rupees for willful design infringement, with enhanced amounts for repeat offenders. Courts can award these damages based on the infringement’s nature, gravity, and the infringer’s business scale, particularly when proving actual damages is difficult or impractical. This creates predictable remedies and stronger deterrence against infringement. Currently, design enforcement is challenging because calculating actual damages often requires extensive evidence and expert testimony. Statutory damages provide a ready framework making enforcement more practical and effective, particularly benefiting small designers who cannot afford expensive damage calculations.
What does the 5+5+5 protection term mean?
Instead of the current 10-year initial term plus 5-year renewal, the new system provides an initial 5-year protection period with the option for two successive 5-year renewals, totaling a maximum 15 years. This staged approach aligns with the Hague Agreement and offers flexibility to design owners. You only renew protection for designs that remain commercially relevant, allowing economically obsolete designs to lapse and enter the public domain sooner. This balances innovation incentives with competitive access, minimizes deadweight loss from unnecessary protection, and helps businesses manage design portfolios strategically based on actual commercial value rather than arbitrary timeframes.
Can I file multiple designs in one application?
Yes, the amendments allow filing multiple designs falling within the same Locarno classification class in a single application. This significantly reduces filing costs and administrative burden, particularly valuable for product lines with several design variations. Instead of filing separate applications for each design variant with separate fees and paperwork, you consolidate related designs into one application. This approach aligns with the Design Law Treaty and international systems like the EU, UK, and Hague System. Startups, MSMEs, and individual designers with limited budgets benefit most from reduced costs and simplified portfolio management.
What is a divisional application under the new Design Act?
Divisional applications allow you to split a pending design application containing multiple designs into separate applications during examination. If the examiner raises objections to one design in a multi-design application, you can divide it so objections don’t block protection for other valid designs. This procedural flexibility prevents loss of valuable design rights due to issues with individual designs in a larger filing. Divisional applications maintain the original filing date for all divided applications, preserving priority. This provision aligns with Article 9 of the Design Law Treaty and reflects international best practices for managing complex design filings efficiently.
How does the Hague Agreement benefit Indian designers?
India’s proposed accession to the Hague Agreement enables designers to protect their work in multiple countries through a single international application filed via WIPO. Currently, international protection requires filing separate applications in each country—expensive, complex, and administratively burdensome. Under Hague, you file one application, designate desired countries, pay one set of fees, and manage everything centrally. This dramatically reduces costs and simplifies international design protection, particularly benefiting export-oriented industries, fashion designers, and technology companies with global markets. Foreign designers can also designate India in their international applications, integrating India more deeply into the global design ecosystem.
Will copyright still protect unregistered designs?
The amendments propose clarifying the design-copyright interface by limiting copyright protection for unregistered designs capable of registration to 15 years only, rather than the current copyright term of creator’s lifetime plus 60 years. This prevents circumventing design law’s shorter protection terms by claiming perpetual copyright over subject matter more appropriately regulated under design law. The change reduces litigation and legal uncertainty that has plagued the design-copyright overlap. Registered designs remain excluded from copyright protection as under current law. This balances creator protection with public access and prevents indefinite monopolies over ornamental designs that should enter the public domain within reasonable timeframes.
When will these amendments become law?
The amendments are currently in the stakeholder consultation phase as of January 2026. The government is seeking industry feedback on core concepts before drafting final legislative language. Expected implementation timeline, though not officially announced, likely falls within 2026-2027. This allows time for completing consultations, drafting detailed legislative amendments, obtaining parliamentary approval, finalizing implementing rules and regulations, and setting up administrative systems for new procedures like deferred publication and Hague Agreement filings. Designers and businesses should monitor developments and prepare strategies for when the new law takes effect.
Should I wait for the new law or file under current law?
This depends on your specific situation. If you have designs ready to file and need immediate protection, file now under current law rather than waiting. Design priority dates from your filing date, so earlier filing generally benefits you. If your designs are primarily virtual or digital interfaces without clear physical embodiment, you might consider waiting for explicit virtual design protection, though Rules already accommodate GUIs in Classes 14-04. If you’ve recently disclosed designs publicly, filing immediately under current limited grace period provisions may be better than waiting. Consult with IP professionals to assess your specific circumstances and develop appropriate strategies.
How much will design registration cost under the new system?
Official government fees are unlikely to change dramatically, though multiple-design applications might offer cost savings by consolidating several designs into single applications instead of separate filings. Current fees range from 1,000 to 4,000 rupees for official charges depending on applicant entity size. Professional fees for design attorneys preparing applications typically add 10,000 to 40,000 rupees depending on complexity. The amendments’ procedural simplifications aligned with the Design Law Treaty may reduce some professional service costs over time. Deferred publication and time relief provisions don’t significantly change base costs but add strategic value. Overall, expect comparable costs to current registration with better value through expanded protection scope and enhanced procedural flexibility.
What happens to designs registered under the old law?
Existing design registrations will continue under their original terms and conditions. The 10+5 year term structure applies to designs registered before the amendments take effect. Transition provisions in implementing rules will likely address how existing registrations interact with new provisions, particularly regarding renewal terms, maintenance fees, and enforcement provisions like statutory damages. Designs registered under current law should not lose protection or face retroactive changes to fundamental terms. However, some procedural benefits like divisional applications or time relief provisions might become available to pending applications. Specific transition rules will be clarified when final legislative language is drafted and implementing regulations are developed.
Can foreign companies benefit from these amendments?
Absolutely. The amendments benefit foreign designers and businesses in several ways. Hague Agreement accession allows foreign applicants to designate India in international applications, simplifying the process of obtaining Indian design protection while maintaining protection in other designated countries. Virtual design protection matters for international technology companies with digital products and services operating in Indian markets. Grace periods, deferred publication, and time relief provisions help foreign applicants navigate Indian procedures more easily. Statutory damages and stronger enforcement make India a more attractive jurisdiction for investing in design protection. Overall, the amendments integrate India more fully into the international design ecosystem and reduce barriers for foreign businesses seeking Indian design rights.
What should app developers do now to prepare?
App developers should begin documenting design development processes with timestamps and creation records, identifying distinctive GUI elements, icons, and interface designs worth protecting, conducting design searches to ensure originality of visual elements, and considering filing for protection on finalized designs even before the amendments take effect since current Rules already accommodate GUIs in Locarno classification. Develop systematic approaches to design asset management, plan which designs merit registration versus which don’t, budget for expanded design protection covering digital interfaces and virtual elements, and consult with IP professionals specializing in design law and technology to develop comprehensive protection strategies. Understanding these changes now positions you to leverage new protections immediately when they become available.
