Look at your reflection and you are literally wearing intellectual property. The brand on the label is a trademark. The floral print is a design. The artwork behind it is a copyright work. Fashion is among the most IP-intensive industries there is — and among the least protected in practice.
Why designs law fits
The Indian design industry is flourishing and simultaneously facing a piracy problem, with counterfeits and knockoffs frequently outselling the original. Designers complain constantly about unauthorised imitation and copying.
The line between copyright and designs matters here. Basic drawings and outlines can be protected under copyright. But once that pattern or shape is applied to an article — a garment, a bag — it falls within the realm of design law. Registering the design is the appropriate step.
Protection under the Designs Act, 2000
A design must satisfy the conditions in Section 2(d) — it must be original and must not have been disclosed to the public before filing.
On registration, the proprietor obtains copyright in the design under Section 2(c) — the exclusive right to apply the design to any article in the class in which it is registered. Note what that means: protection attaches against a class of articles, not merely one product.
Classes relevant to fashion designers include:
- Class 2 — articles of clothing and haberdashery (garments, headwear, footwear, socks);
- Class 3 — travel goods, cases, parasols and personal belongings (trunks, suitcases);
- Class 5 — textile piece goods, artificial and natural sheet material (fabrics, ribbons);
- Class 10 — clocks, watches and other measuring instruments; and
- Class 11 — articles of adornment (jewellery).
Note on classification: the Designs (Amendment) Rules, 2021 formally adopted the current Locarno Classification as published by WIPO, replacing the older locally modified list. Classify to the current edition.
Knockoffs and counterfeits
Fashion design piracy is the unauthorised production or distribution of an original registered work, and divides in two:
- Knockoffs — exact replicas of the original sold under a different brand name; and
- Counterfeits — exact replicas that also retain the original’s brand name, made with the intention of deceiving loyal purchasers.
A person committing piracy of a registered design is liable under Section 22 to pay the registered proprietor a statutory sum — capped at ₹25,000 per design, with a maximum of ₹50,000 recoverable in respect of any one design. Those caps have not been revised, and they are the reason design proprietors usually pursue an injunction and damages in a suit rather than relying on the statutory remedy alone.
The upside and the catch
The upside: you gain the exclusive right to restrain others from using your registered design and to sue for damages when they infringe. Licensing a registered design is also a route to revenue.
The catch: protection for an unregistered design is very limited. And fashion runs on a clock that works against registration. Designs age out — “it’s so outdated” arrives the moment the next season lands. With a constant flow of designs and patterns, and each one’s commercial life measured in months, designers hesitate to file. Unless a pattern is a standard, enduring one — Louis Vuitton’s monogram, Versace’s Medusa motif — the registration process can outlast the design’s shelf life.
That is the structural tension at the centre of fashion IP everywhere, not just India. It is also why brand elements — the marks, logos and signature motifs that persist across seasons — end up doing much of the protective work, since a trademark can be renewed indefinitely while a design cannot.
A suggestion
The term “fashion design” should be clearly defined in the Designs Act, 2000, and protection for unregistered designs should be strengthened. That would encourage designers to produce new and innovative work with some assurance it will not simply be copied.
The takeaways
- Applied to an article, a pattern is a design — not merely copyright artwork.
- Registration protects across the class, not just one product.
- Statutory damages are capped low — injunctive relief usually matters more.
- Unregistered designs get little protection — a real problem for seasonal work.
Frequently asked questions
Should fashion designs be protected under copyright or designs law? Drawings and artwork can be protected by copyright, but once the pattern or shape is applied to an article such as a garment, design law applies.
What does design registration protect? The exclusive right to apply the design to any article in the class in which it is registered — protection extends across the class, not a single product.
What are the penalties for design piracy? Section 22 caps the statutory sum at ₹25,000 per design, with a maximum of ₹50,000 for any one design, which is why proprietors usually seek injunctions and damages by suit.
Is an unregistered fashion design protected in India? Only to a very limited extent — which is why brand elements that persist across seasons often carry more protective weight than individual designs.