Company A has got registration for its new design of bottles for soft drink but after substantive examination it was found that the design not new or original. Can the registration of a design be cancelled?

The registered proprietor of design is given exclusive rights to his/her registered Designs. One such right is the right of the Cancellation of Design Registration. The registered proprietor or any other person interested can file for a petition of Cancellation of Registration of Design on the grounds mentioned in the Design Act, 2000 read with the Design Rules, 2001. The procedure for Cancellation is also provided in the Act and the Rules regarding the Design Law of India. The registration of a design may be cancelled at any time after the registration of the design on a petition for cancellation in Form 8, along with the prescribed fee. Such petition may be filed at any of the four Patent Offices. Such petitions filed in offices other than Kolkata, are transmitted to the Kolkata Patent Office. However, at present, all further proceedings of cancellation take place only at Patent Office, Kolkata and hence all communications relating to cancellation petitions are required to be communicated to that office. The petition for cancellation of registration of a design may be filed on any of the following grounds: that the design has been previously registered in India; that it has been published in India or in any other country prior to the date of registration; that the design is not a new or original; that the design is not registerable under the Designs Act; that it is not a design as defined under Section 2(d) of the Designs Act. For a design to be called new or original there should be some original mental application involved. The novelty or originality of even a particular part of the article may be sufficient to call the design as a whole "novel or original", but this part must be a significant one and it must be potent enough to impart to the whole design a distinct identity. In view of the above, registration of design of Company A's soft drinks bottles can be cancelled on the ground the design is not new or original.