- Case number
- AID/21/2024
- Court
- Calcutta High Court
- Date of judgment
- Judge
- Ravi Krishan Kapur
- Outcome
- Remanded
Headnote
Five appeals concerning graphical user interfaces allowed together, the Court holding that the authorities had failed to apply the correct legal tests to GUI design applications. It noted a WIPO survey finding that 92 per cent of jurisdictions already protect GUIs under design law, and comparable positions in the European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong and the United States, and observed that the definitions of design, article and industrial process require clarification so that GUIs are recognised as products of industrial design activity, which would also align India with the Hague Agreement and the Riyadh Design Law Treaty. Pending such clarification by the legislature or the Controller, the Court held that nothing prevents GUIs being registered case by case under sections 2(a) and 2(d), provided they are properly identified with an article and the design elements are not purely function driven.
Headnote by BRB Legal, written from the judgment: a summary for reference, not legal advice. Read the judgment itself before relying on it.