Elegant Furniture Pvt. Ltd. created a new ornamental design for a dining chair and obtained registration of the design under the Designs Act, 2000 on 1 January 2015. As the registered proprietor, the company enjoyed excl

Under Section 11(1) of the Designs Act, 2000, when a design is registered, the registered proprietor shall have copyright in the design for a period of ten years from the date of registration. In the present case, Elegant Furniture Pvt. Ltd. obtained registration of the design on 1 January 2015. Therefore, the company will have copyright in the design for ten years, i.e., up to 31 st December 2025. According to Section 11(2) of the Designs Act, 2000, if the registered proprietor applies to the Controller in the prescribed manner and pays the prescribed fee before the expiry of the initial ten years, the Controller may extend the copyright for a further period of five years. Thus, the copyright in the registered design initially lasts for 10 years from the date of registration. If the prescribed application and fee are submitted before expiry, the period may be extended for an additional 5 years, making the maximum protection period 15 years. Under Section 19 of the Designs Act, 2000, any person interested may present a petition for the cancellation of the registration of a design at any time after the registration of the design, to the Controller on any of the following grounds, namely: that the design has been previously registered in India; or that it has been published in India or in any other country prior to the date of registration; or that the design is not a new or original design; or that the design is not registrable under this Act; or that it is not a design as defined under clause (d) of section 2