What are the various stages and the timelines involved in the grant of an Indian design?

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An Indian design application goes through the following stages, till grant:

  1. Filing:
    • For convention design application: Within 6 months from date of earliest filing in the country (s) under Paris convention/WTO.
  2. First Examination Report (FER) by the Indian Design Office:
    • A First Examination Report (FER) is issued for defects in the application (if any) within six months from the date of filing of the application.
  3. Reply to FER by the applicant:
    • 6 months from date of filing: Extension of time upto 3 months is available upon payment of prescribed fee.
  4. Registration:
    • As soon as possible, if no serious objections are pending. If objections are pending, a hearing may be offered.
    • After the registration of the design, the period of the registration of the design is initially ten years from the date of registration.
    • “Date of registration” refers to: date of filing of application in India in case of an ordinary application; and date of filing of application in convention country, in case of convention application.
  5. Publication:
    • Once an application is registered, it is published in the Patent Office Journal ordinarily within one month.
  6. Extension of period of copyright:
    • The initial period of registration may be extended by further period of five years, by filing a request for extension. This request must be filed before the expiry of the said initial period of ten years.
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