Design Class Finder

Q: How long does a registered design last in India?

Ten years from registration, extendable by five more years on an application made before the initial term expires — fifteen years in total.

Q: Does publishing my product before filing matter?

Yes. A design must be new or original and not previously disclosed anywhere in the world. Prior publication, including your own website or social media, can invalidate the registration.

Search all 32 Locarno classes and 164 subclasses by product. India classifies registered designs under the Locarno Classification through the Third Schedule to the Designs Rules, and a design is registered as applied to a specific article — so the class is not paperwork, it is the boundary of the right. Type the article below.

Design class finder

Find the right Locarno class for your design

Industrial designs in India are classified under the Locarno system: 32 classes covering the kind of article the design is applied to. A design registration protects appearance — shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation — and is filed per article per class.

32 classes
164 subclasses

Search by what you sell

How design classes work in India

A design registration in India protects appearance and nothing else — the shape, configuration, pattern, ornament or composition of lines and colours applied to an article, judged solely by the eye. It does not protect how a thing works, what it is made of, or what it is called. Those are patents, and trademarks, and they are separate rights.

Because a design is registered as applied to an article, the article has to be classified. India uses the Locarno Classification — 32 classes, subdivided into 164 subclasses — through the Third Schedule to the Designs Rules.

The class draws the boundary of the right

Register the shape of a bottle in the class covering containers, and you hold that shape for containers. The same shape applied to a lamp is a different article in a different class, and it is not covered. Businesses that apply one visual identity across several product types generally need several registrations, not one.

One design, one article, one application

Each application covers one design applied to one article. A range — a chair, a matching table and a matching stool — is three applications, even though they share a design language. This surprises people and it is the most common reason a design portfolio ends up with gaps.

Class 32 is the one people miss

Class 32 covers graphic symbols and logos, surface patterns, ornamentation, and the arrangement of interiors and exteriors. It is where a great deal of modern design work belongs — packaging graphics, textile prints, icon sets, retail interiors — and it is routinely overlooked by applicants who assume their work must belong to the class of the physical product it appears on.

Novelty is absolute, and it is unforgiving

A design must be new or original and must not have been disclosed to the public anywhere in the world before the filing date. Publishing on a website, showing at a trade fair, listing on a marketplace, or posting on social media can all destroy novelty. File before you launch. This is the single most expensive mistake in Indian design practice, and unlike a wrong class it cannot be corrected by filing again.

Design, or trademark, or patent?

If you are protecting a logo as a badge of origin, that is a trademark. If you are protecting the logo as an applied ornamental design, Class 32 of the design system may also be available, and the two rights can coexist. If the shape is there because it makes the product work rather than because it looks a particular way, it is not registrable as a design at all, and you should be looking at a patent instead. Our design registration page sets out the process and the fees, with government fees shown separately from professional fees.

How to use this finder

Type the article — “chair”, “packaging”, “shoe sole”, “textile print” — and the matching Locarno classes and subclasses appear. Pick the class of the article the design is applied to, not the class of the industry you are in. If your design appears on more than one kind of article, note each class: that is your filing programme, not a single application.

Design class questions

How many design classes are there in India?

Thirty-two Locarno classes, divided into 164 subclasses, applied through the Third Schedule to the Designs Rules.

Can one design application cover several articles?

No. One application covers one design applied to one article. A product range needs one application per article.

How long does a registered design last in India?

Ten years from registration, extendable by a further five years on an application for extension made before the initial term expires — fifteen years in total.

Does publishing my product before filing matter?

Yes, decisively. A design must be new or original and not previously disclosed anywhere in the world. Prior publication — including your own website or social media — can invalidate the registration. File first.

Can I register a logo as a design?

Class 32 covers graphic symbols, logos and surface patterns, so an ornamental design may be registrable. But a logo used as a badge of origin is protected as a trademark, and for most brands that is the right and the more durable of the two.