Calcutta High Court Rules Screen Icons and Layouts Registrable Under Designs Act

The Calcutta High Court held that icons, menus, and screen layouts on digital devices qualify as registrable "designs" under the Designs Act, 2000.

Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur set aside several orders of the Controller of Designs, which had previously rejected Graphical User Interface (GUI) applications as mere software.

The Court clarified that an "article of manufacture" includes digital forms and that the display of a GUI constitutes an industrial process.

The Court further ruled that a design need not be permanently visible, provided it has "eye appeal" when the article is in use. The matters were remanded for fresh hearings.

[NEC Corporation v. The Controller of Patents & Design & Anr.]