What cannot be registered as a design?

Designs that are primarily literary or artistic in character are not protected under the Indian Designs Act.

These include:

1. books, jackets, calendars, certificates, forms and other documents, dressmaking patterns, greeting cards, leaflets, maps and plan cards, postcards, stamps, medals;

2. labels, tokens, cards, cartoons;

3. any principle or mode of construction of an article;

4. mere mechanical contrivance;

5. building and structures;

6. parts of any articles not manufactured and sold separately;

7. variations commonly used in trade;

8. mere workshop alterations of components of an assembly;

9. a mere change in the size of the article;

10. flags, emblems or signs of any country;

11. layout designs of integrated circuits.