Sonar Industries, proprietor of registered design, obtained an ad interim injunction restraining TRISHA International from manufacturing portable table fans with a design that was allegedly an obvious or colourable imita

'Design' refers to the features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation which can be judged by the eye in the finished products. Section 22 of the Design Act 2000 provides the legal proceedings to be followed in case of Piracy of Registered Design. One of the below remedies can be sought against the accused: Paying to the registered proprietor of the design a sum not exceeding twenty-five thousand rupees recoverable as a contract debt provided that the total sum recoverable in respect of any one design shall not exceed fifty thousand rupees; and Recovery of damages for any such contravention, and an injunction against the repetition thereof, to pay such damages as may be awarded and to be restrained by injunction accordingly Not every resemblance is actionable and imitation does not mean duplication. An obvious imitation is one which immediately strikes one as being so like the original registered design as to be almost indistinguishable. In contrast, the word 'fraudulent' presupposes knowledge of the registered design. To ascertain infringement, the two products need not be placed side by side, but rather examined from the point of view of a customer with average knowledge and imperfect recollection. The main consideration is whether the broad features of shape, configuration and pattern are similar to one another ( Veeplast v. Bonjour, 2011 ). The Designs Act, 2000 grants protection only for the appearance of the article which appeals to and is judged by the eye. In a case, the Calcutta High Court held as below: "Novelty resided in the design as a whole and not in its component parts. The striking features of the registered design could not be viewed in isolation. Components such as mounting brackets being mechanical devices could not be considered as a part of the design as registered in the Certificate of Registration." Thus, the question whether TRISHA International's portable table fan is an obvious imitation of Sonar's registered design has to be determined solely by the test of an eye. As the shape, configuration and ornamentation of TRISHA's portable table fan design were clearly dissimilar to those of Sonar's registered design, no prima facie case of piracy has been made out by Sonar. Therefore, TRISHA International will succeed in getting the ad interim injunction vacated.