Kumar Pankaj & Associates

3. (1) The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks appointed under    sub-section (1) of section 4 of the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958 shall be the Controller of Designs for the purposes of this Act.

 (2) For the purposes of this Act, the Central Government may appoint as many examiners and other officers and with such designations, as it thinks fit.
 (3) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the officers appointed under sub-section (2) shall discharge under the superintendence.
 (4) Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (3), the  Controller may by order in writing and for reasons to be recorded therein, withdraw  any matter pending before an officer appointed under sub-section (2).
 4. A design which (a) is not new or original; or  (b) has been disclosed to the public anywhere in India or in any other country by publication in tangible form or by use or in any other way prior to the filing date.

5. (1) The Controller may, on the application of any person claiming to be the proprietor of any new or original design not previously published in any country and which is not contrary to public order or morality, register the design under this Act.

(2) Every application under Sub-Section (1) shall be in the prescribed form and shall be filed in the Patent Office in the prescribed manner and shall be accompanied by the prescribed fee. (3) A design may be registered in not more than one class.
(4) The Controller may, if he thinks fit, refuse to register any design presented to him for registration; but any person, person aggrieved by any such refusal may appeal to the High Court. (5) An application which, owing to any default or neglect on the part of the applicant, has not been completed so as to enable registration to be effected within the prescribed time shall be deemed to be abandoned.
(6) A design when registered shall be registered as of the date of the application for registration.

6. (1) A design may be registered in respect of any or all of the articles comprised in a prescribed class of articles.
(2) Any question arising as to the class within which any article falls shall be determined by the Controller whose decision in the matter shall be final.
(3) Where a design has been registered in respect of any article comprised in a class of article, the application of the proprietor of the design to register it in respect of some one or more other articles comprised in that class of articles shall not be refused, nor shall the registration thereof invalidated.
(a) on the ground of the design not being a new or original design, by reason only that it was so previously registered; or (b) on the ground of the design having been previously published in India or in any other country.

4) Where any person makes an application for the registration of a design in respect of any article and either-
(a) that design has been previously registered by another person in respect of some other article; or
(b) the design to which the application relates consists of a design previously registered by another person in respect of the same or some other article with modifications .

7. The Controller shall, as soon as may be after the registration of a design, cause publication of the prescribed particulars of the design to be published in such manner as may be prescribed and thereafter the design shall be open to public inspection 

8. (1) If the Controller is satisfied on a claim made in the prescribed manner at any time before a design has been registered that by virtue of any assignment or agreement in writing made by the applicant or one of the applicants for registration of the design or by operation of law, the claimant would.