Harmonizing the Intersections: Reforming the Copyright, Designs, and Trade Marks Interface in India

Indian intellectual property law is facing a challenge as the Copyright Act (1957), Designs Act (2000), and Trademarks Act (1999) cannot keep up with modern commercial design. The existing framework based on the strict doctrine of election forces creators to forgo other alternative protections and rights and penalizes organic brand growth. The Indian judiciary has provided short-term relief through common law interpretation, but this is not a sustainable solution and creates business uncertainty and lacks the macroeconomic legal framework needed for India to become a global manufacturing hub. This paper analyzes the philosophical dichotomy of election and absolute cumulation, eventually opting for a paradigmatic switch to "regulated, sequential cumulation." In accordance with this novel framework, various ontic dimensions and lifecycle stages of a product receive exclusive protection through the proposed harmonization of intellectual property rights. This is facilitated through the following legislative amendments: amending Section 2(d) of the Designs Act to grant trademark status to expired designs when secondary meaning is established; strengthening Section 9(3) of the Trade Marks Act by introducing the "expired patent presumption" to ensure that the monopolization of functional utility does not occur; and substituting the fifty-reproduction rule stipulated in Section 15(2) of the Copyright Act with the "separability test." Moreover, to address potential inefficiencies arising from rapid technological advancement, the creation of an interim "Unregistered Design Right" (UDR) is suggested. In conjunction with institutional changes like developing an all-inclusive IP database and setting up dedicated IP Divisions within several High Courts, such legislative changes will give inventors the necessary legal framework to foster design branding and guarantee that innovations functionally advance into the public domain.