Industrial design rights are granted to new and original features of an industrial product that are not purely utilitarian, and may produce an aesthetic impression in the eyes of the buyers. Such features include novel shapes, configurations, two dimensional surface patterns, ornamentations and composition of lines or colours applied to any article.

The registration and protection of industrial designs in India is administered by the Designs Act, 2000, in line with the TRIPS agreement. India is not a party to the Hague system of filing international design applications. The initial term of protection in India is 10 years, renewable for another 5 years.

Industrial design rights are granted by the Indian Patent Office. On receipt of an application, the Patent Office will examine it. If it finds any objection in the application, the same is communicated to the applicant. If there is no objection, or on the successful resolution of all objections, the design specification will be published in the Patent journal, and a certificate of registration will be issued to the applicant.