- Case number
- AID NO. 2 of 2019
- Court
- Calcutta High Court
- Date of judgment
- Judge
- Ravi Krishan Kapur
- Outcome
- Remanded
Headnote
Allowed and remanded. A graphical user interface is registrable as a design. The court held that the claimed GUI is a two-dimensional design whose novelty can be judged by the eye as soon as the device is turned on, with no need to touch the device, and that it is applied to the article by an industrial process within section 2(d): a developer writes source code which creates the GUI, that code is embedded in micro-controllers and micro-processors, and it is displayed on screen by illuminating pixels through electronic means. The court followed Re Apple Computer Inc.'s Design Applications and K.K. Suwa Seikosha's Design Application, and noted that registrations granted in the USA and the European Union, though not binding, had not even been adverted to in the refusal.
Headnote by BRB Legal, written from the judgment: a summary for reference, not legal advice. Read the judgment itself before relying on it.