What is Design Piracy? How does Section 19 of the Designs Act provide a ground of defense in proceedings relating to piracy of a design ?

Piracy of a design means the application of a design or its imitation to any article belonging to the class of articles in which the design has been registered for sale or importation of such articles without the written consent of the registered proprietor. Publishing such articles or exposing them for sale with knowledge of the unauthorized application of the design to them also involves piracy of the Design. Design piracy, particularly in the context of registered designs, poses significant challenges in today's industrial landscape. A "design" encompasses the aesthetic aspects of any shapes, patterns, ornamentations, or compositions that can be applied to any two-dimensional or third-dimensional articles through industrial processes or techniques. The proprietor of the design gets the exclusive right to apply the design to the article in a class in which the design is registered. During the existence of copyright over any design, other persons are prohibited from using the design except or with the permission of the proprietor, his licensee, or assignee. Section 22(1) of the Design Act of 2000 addresses the issue of pirated designs and specifies the circumstances that would constitute such piracy. Registered designs are used for fraudulent or obvious imitation of the design. In this context, the term 'imitation' does not refer to an exact duplication of designs. Rather, it pertains to determining if the infringing copy includes the key elements of the registered designs, which are the basis for claiming novelty. Registered designs are imported for sale without the consent of the proprietor. A registered design has been published or exposed for sale with prior knowledge that it has obvious or fraudulent imitations It is submitted that as per Section 19 of the Designs Act, 2000, at any time during the subsistence of the Design registration, any person can seek cancellation of design registration by filing a Petition before the Controller, on the following grounds: that the design has been previously registered in India; or that it has been published in India or in any other country before the date of registration; or that the design is not new or original; or that the design is not registerable under this Act; or that it is not a design as defined under clause (d) of section 2.