In yet another effort to bring efficiency and transparency in Indian IP system and as New Year gift, the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM) introduced a comprehensive e-filing system for Indian design applications and related documents. The system is fully functional from January 1, 2019 and now the applicants from anywhere in India can use this system to file and manage prosecution of Design applications. The earlier e-filing system was designed to receive the new applications but was not comprehensive enough to facilitate prosecution. The new system provides for filing of all Forms prescribed in the Designs Act, 2000 and Rules made thereunder, electronically. This brings all major forms of IP protection in India e.g. patents, designs, trademarks and copyright under comprehensive electronic filing system.
To meet the objectives of the National IPR Policy announced in 2016, the Government of India has taken several steps to strengthen the IP procurement system and to make it transparent, efficient and user friendly. The Design protection system in India is now can be easily equated with the international standards and currently it takes less than 6 months to obtain design registrations in India. With the introduction of comprehensive e-filing system, we expect this period to reduce further and if no extensions are sought by the applicants, it is possible to obtain design registrations in less than 3 months from the date of filing of the application.
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