How-To · Design Enforcement · Last verified October 2026
How to Handle a Design Infringement (2026)
A competitor is selling a product that looks like yours, copying the shape, pattern or ornamentation you registered as a design. In India this is called piracy of a registered design, and the Designs Act, 2000 gives you a civil remedy to stop it and recover money. The handling is more structured than most people expect, because the Act caps one kind of money claim, routes validity fights to the High Court, and protects only what you actually registered. This guide explains how to handle a design infringement: confirm your right, choose the remedy, pick the forum, and anticipate the validity defence. It is general information, not legal advice, and IP enforcement is fact-specific. Last verified October 2026.
- What it is: piracy of a registered design under Section 22 of the Designs Act, 2000, judged by the eye as an obvious or fraudulent imitation.
- Registration required: there is no unregistered design right; protection lasts ten years from registration, extendable by five on renewal.
- Remedies: either up to Rs 25,000 per contravention as a contract debt (max Rs 50,000 per design), or a suit for an injunction and damages.
- Civil only: the Designs Act has no criminal offence, unlike trademark or copyright counterfeiting.
- Validity moves the case: if the defendant pleads a Section 19 cancellation ground, Section 22(4) transfers the suit to the High Court.
01What design infringement is
A design, in Indian law, protects the features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament applied to an article and judged solely by the eye. It does not protect how the article works, which is the job of a patent. Section 22 of the Designs Act, 2000 makes it piracy of a registered design to, without licence, apply the registered design or an obvious or fraudulent imitation of it to an article in the class in which it is registered, or to import or sell such articles, while the design right is in force.
Two consequences follow. First, protection is tied to registration; unlike copyright, there is no unregistered design right to fall back on here. Second, the test is visual: does the defendant's article look substantially the same to the eye of an ordinary customer? For how design and patent protection can overlap, see design versus patent overlap.
02Confirm your registration is in force
Before acting, confirm you still hold the right you want to enforce:
- Registration and class. Check the design number, the registered proprietor and the class, and that the alleged copy is in the same class.
- Term. A registered design is protected for ten years from registration, extendable by a further five years on renewal. An expired design is in the public domain and free to copy.
- Novelty. Be honest about whether the design was genuinely new and original when registered, because this is exactly what the defendant will attack.
Confirming the design is live and renewed is the first practical step, because a lapsed design gives you nothing to enforce.
03The Section 22 remedies
The remedies sit in Section 22(2), and the proprietor chooses one of two routes:
| Route | What you recover |
|---|---|
| Statutory sum | The contravener is liable to pay up to Rs 25,000 for each contravention as a contract debt, subject to a maximum of Rs 50,000 recoverable for any one design |
| Suit for injunction and damages | An injunction to stop the piracy and damages the court assesses, not limited by the Rs 50,000 cap |
The money-only route is quick but capped, so for serious or ongoing infringement most proprietors sue for an injunction and damages, where the injunction stops the copying and the damages are not tied to the cap. Note an honest limitation of design law: the Designs Act provides civil remedies only; there is no criminal offence for design piracy, unlike trademark or copyright counterfeiting.
04Which court hears it
A suit for design piracy is filed in a court not below the court of a District Judge. Because design disputes are commercial disputes under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, the suit is heard by a Commercial Court or, where a High Court has original civil jurisdiction, its commercial division.
As with other IP suits, the Commercial Courts Act's pre-institution mediation requirement under Section 12A applies, but a suit that genuinely seeks urgent interim relief against continuing piracy is treated as exempt. The interim injunction is usually the centre of gravity: stopping the copies reaching the market while the suit runs is what protects the commercial value of the design.
05Expect a validity challenge
The most important procedural feature of design litigation is the validity defence. A defendant sued for piracy will almost always argue that the design should never have been registered, on a ground available for cancellation under Section 19, such as prior publication, lack of novelty, or that the design is not registrable.
This matters because of Section 22(4): when the defendant pleads a ground on which the registration could be cancelled under Section 19, the suit is transferred to the High Court for decision. In other words, raising validity pulls the case up to the High Court. So before you sue, stress-test your own design for novelty and prior publication, because the fight will often be less about whether the defendant copied and more about whether your design was validly registered in the first place. For the cancellation grounds, see design cancellation under Section 19.
In design litigation the real battle is often validity. If the defendant pleads a Section 19 cancellation ground, the suit moves to the High Court.
06Steps to handle it
In outline, handling a design infringement looks like this:
- Confirm your registration is live, renewed and in the right class, and that the copy is in the same class.
- Compare to the eye. Assess whether the defendant's article is the design or an obvious or fraudulent imitation.
- Collect evidence of the infringing article, sales and imports, with dated samples and listings.
- Consider a cease and desist notice to stop the piracy without a suit, weighing the risk of tipping off the infringer.
- Choose the remedy: the capped statutory sum, or a suit for an injunction and damages.
- File before a Commercial Court or High Court commercial division, and prepare for the validity defence that may move the case to the High Court.
Caveats worth repeating: protection depends on a valid, in-force registration; the test is visual; the remedy is civil only; and a validity challenge can reshape the whole case. For keeping watch on copies as they appear, see tracking design infringement cases.
07Where Claw fits
Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.
Handling a design infringement is an enforcement task, and Claw does not run the suit for you. Where Claw helps is once the piracy becomes a legal matter. Claw tracks the resulting suit across High Courts and Commercial Courts, part of 9,102 courts, benches and forums, with alerts and monitoring so a new order, an interim injunction outcome, or a transfer to the High Court on a validity plea does not slip past a product business or in-house team. Its Legal GPT researches across 30 crore+ judgments, with Supreme Court decisions from 1950 and High Court decisions from 1990, so counsel can see how courts have treated design piracy, obvious imitation and Section 19 cancellation grounds in comparable facts. Results return in under 5 seconds, and Claw does not train its AI models on your documents. To check whether a competitor or defendant already has litigation on record, run a case search across Indian courts by party name. A clean result means nothing was found on the forums and date searched, not that nothing exists, and namesakes should be confirmed before you rely on a match. This is general information, not legal advice.
08Sources and further reading
- India Code (Designs Act, 2000, Sections 2, 11, 19, 22; Commercial Courts Act, 2015): indiacode.nic.in
- Office of the CGPDTM (designs registry): ipindia.gov.in
- IP India design search: search.ipindia.gov.in
- Claw: clawlaw.in
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Design enforcement is fact-specific and validity-sensitive; confirm the current statute and your registration and take advice from an IP lawyer before acting.
09Frequently asked questions
What counts as design infringement in India?
Under Section 22 of the Designs Act, 2000, it is piracy of a registered design to apply the registered design, or an obvious or fraudulent imitation of it, to an article in the class in which it is registered, or to import or sell such articles, without the proprietor's licence while the design is in force. The test is visual: whether the article looks substantially the same to the eye of an ordinary customer.
What can I recover for design piracy?
Section 22(2) of the Designs Act, 2000 gives a choice. You can claim up to Rs 25,000 for each contravention as a contract debt, subject to a maximum of Rs 50,000 recoverable for any one design, or you can sue for an injunction and damages, which is not limited by that cap. For serious or ongoing copying, most proprietors sue for an injunction and damages, because the injunction stops the piracy.
Is design infringement a criminal offence in India?
No. The Designs Act, 2000 provides civil remedies only; there is no criminal offence for design piracy, unlike trademark or copyright counterfeiting where criminal action is available. Enforcement of a registered design is therefore through a civil suit for an injunction and damages, or the capped statutory money claim under Section 22(2).
Where is a design infringement suit filed?
In a court not below the court of a District Judge. Because design disputes are commercial disputes under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, the suit is heard by a Commercial Court or the commercial division of a High Court with original jurisdiction. Importantly, under Section 22(4) of the Designs Act, 2000, if the defendant pleads a ground for cancellation under Section 19, the suit is transferred to the High Court.
Why does a validity challenge matter so much?
Because a defendant sued for piracy will usually argue the design should not have been registered, on a Section 19 cancellation ground such as prior publication or lack of novelty. Under Section 22(4) of the Designs Act, 2000, pleading such a ground transfers the suit to the High Court. So the fight often turns less on whether the defendant copied and more on whether your design was validly registered, which you should stress-test before suing.