How to Prepare Design Application Drawings in India: Views, Disclaimers and Rule 14

A kitchen-appliance maker in Rajkot sends us a folder the week before launch: phone photos of the new mixer grinder on a granite counter, a CAD render with dimension lines and the company logo, and a catalogue page. The question is always the same. "Can we file the design with these?"

Not as they are. In India, your design application drawings are not supporting paperwork. They are the registration: what the sheets show, and what they disclaim, is what you can enforce later. This guide covers what the Designs Rules, 2001 require, which views to file, the novelty statement and disclaimers, objections, and a final checklist. For the wider process, see our complete guide to design registration in India.

Quick answer

Representations are governed by rule 14 of the Designs Rules, 2001, read with rules 11 and 12. Use durable A4 sheets, one side only, with figures upright and each view labelled in words (front, rear, top, bottom, left, right, perspective). Each copy is dated and signed, digitally when e-filed, and carries a statement of novelty plus any disclaimers for mechanical features, words, trade marks or colour. Drawings, photographs and CAD renders are accepted; dimensions, sectional views, reference numerals, logos and busy backgrounds are not. The article name and Locarno class must match what the sheets show. The 2021 amendment changed classification and fees, not these drawing rules.

What the Designs Rules actually require

Three rules do most of the work. Rule 11 requires four copies of the representation, each dated and signed by the applicant or agent. Rule 12 covers the statement of novelty. Rule 14, headed "Representation", sets the drawing standards. The current text of the Rules runs to the Designs (Amendment) Rules, 2021, which rewrote classification and fees but left rules 11, 12 and 14 alone.

The Design Office's Manual of Designs Practice and Procedure, still hosted by IP India, adds detail. It predates e-filing and the 2021 classification change, but its paragraph on representation sheets remains the fullest official guidance. Its preface recorded that about 90% of applications were then objected to on formalities alone, and in our experience examination reports still track that paragraph.

Since a December 2022 public notice, e-filed applications need no physical copies in Kolkata, apart from documents such as assignments, notarised powers of attorney and original affidavits. Leave a clean border on every sheet anyway.

Which views to file, and when fewer will do

Rule 14(3) does not list mandatory views. The manual supplies the test: the examiner must be able to visualise the design and tell it apart from prior art. For a three-dimensional product, we start from this set:

• Front, rear, left, right, top and bottom views, at the same scale and orientation throughout.
• At least one perspective view, usually from a front-top corner. Rule 22 lets the Controller pick the views published on registration, so it matters beyond examination.
• Open or in-use views where the appearance changes in use, such as a lid open. The manual accepts that interior features visible during use, like refrigerator trays, can be shown alongside closed views.

Fewer views are fine where they show everything there is. A textile print is usually a single view meeting rule 14(7); a coaster may need only a top and an edge view. Where two views are identical, we still file both rather than rely on a note. It removes an argument.

Label every figure in words ("Front View", "Perspective View"), keep the wording identical across sheets, and never call an off-angle render a "Side View".

Line drawings, photographs or CAD renders

Rule 14(1) accepts drawings, photographs and tracings, and the manual expressly includes computer graphics. Each fails in its own way.

• Line drawings are the cleanest record of shape. Use shading lines sparingly to show curvature, with consistent line weights.
• Photographs capture finish, but also reflections, shadows and your hand. Shoot the product alone on a plain background, in even light, using one sample throughout.
• CAD renders are what most product teams have. Export on plain white, without reflections or a ground plane, with the model in one state for every view.

The manual prefers one format, though you may mix for clarity. If you do, check that the photo and the render of each view actually match.

What must not appear on the sheet

• Dimensions or engineering symbols. The design is the shape, not the size.
• Sectional views, reference numerals or descriptive text.
• Background or extraneous matter, unless neutral with the design clearly visible.
• Words, letters, numerals and trade marks, unless of the essence of the design and disclaimed.

Colour and dotted lines

Section 2(d) of the Designs Act, 2000 includes "composition of lines or colours" in the definition of design, so colour on your sheets may be read as claimed. If the colour scheme is the design, show it clearly; if you want only the shape, file in greyscale or add a colour disclaimer. The manual also allows colour on a black-and-white drawing to pick out claimed portions, if the novelty statement says so and disclaims the colours themselves.

Dotted lines mean "not claimed": the manual says they mark elements for which no protection is sought, with claimed features in solid lines. That suits a surface ornament on an ordinary bottle. It does not suit hidden edges, which engineering drawings show in dotted lines.

Statement of novelty and disclaimers

Rule 12 says the applicant may, and must if the Controller requires, endorse a brief statement of novelty on the application and each representation. The manual wants the statement and any disclaimers on every sheet. Treat both as mandatory.

Keep it short and visual. The manual's examples read like "The novelty resides in the shape of the ash-tray as illustrated", and it says you need not pinpoint a portion, because novelty lies in the article as a whole. Name the kind of feature that is new (shape, configuration, surface pattern, ornamentation) and the article, spelt exactly as in Form-1.

The usual disclaimers, adapted from the manual's specimens:

• Mechanical: "No claim is made by virtue of this registration in respect of any mechanical or other action of any mechanism whatsoever or in respect of any mode or principle of construction of the article."
• Words and marks: "No claim is made by virtue of this registration to any right to the exclusive use of the trade marks, words, letters or numerals appearing in the design."
• Colour, where it appears but is not claimed: the same formula, disclaiming "colour or colour combination appearing in the representation".

Two mistakes recur: the everything statement ("shape, configuration, pattern, ornamentation and composition of lines and colours") for a plain moulded product, and the functional claim ("an ergonomic grip that reduces wrist strain"), which invites an objection under section 2(d).

And a disclaimer is no substitute for removing a logo. If the brand is not part of the design, rule 14(6) says take it off; protect it through trademark registration instead.

Article name, Locarno class and the functional line

Since the 2021 amendment, rule 10 classifies articles under the current edition of WIPO's Locarno Classification (the 15th edition has applied since 1 January 2025), with a proviso that registration stays subject to sections 2(a) and 2(d). Section 5(3) allows one class per registration, and IP India's workflow asks for a separate application for each class and subclass. Our design class finder helps you shortlist it.

The article name in Form-1, the novelty statement and the drawings must describe the same thing. File "Mixer Grinder" and show a jar alone, and expect an objection. If the name is unusual, the manual suggests stating the article's purpose in Form-1 and on the sheet.

Sets and parts

A set, under rule 2(e), is a group of articles of the same general character, ordinarily sold or used together, bearing the same design, such as a dinner set. The sheets must show every arrangement across the set (rule 14(2)), and the Controller settles any doubt about whether it is one (rule 14(4)).

Section 2(a) includes in "article" any part capable of being made and sold separately. A replacement mixer jar qualifies; a rib inside the motor housing does not.

Designs that are mainly functional

Section 2(d) protects only features that appeal to and are judged solely by the eye, and excludes modes or principles of construction and mere mechanical devices. In Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Healthcare GmbH and Co. KG v. Anchor Health and Beauty Care Pvt Ltd (Delhi High Court, 2004), the zig-zag flexing bend of a toothbrush was treated as functional, not as design. If every line on your sheets is dictated by engineering, look at patent protection instead.

Common objections and how to answer them

Objections arrive in a first examination report, which from 2 October 2026 IP India ordinarily sends by e-mail only, to the address for service in Form-1. Under rule 18 you have three months from the communication to remove the objections or ask for a hearing, within an overall six months from filing, extendable by up to three months on Form-18 filed before the six months expire.

Remove, relabel, disclaim, never add

The Designs Act has no express added-matter provision like the Patents Act's. But a design is registered as of its application date (section 5(6)), as the sheets showed it then; an amendment that changes the design is, in substance, a new design. So in replies we remove, relabel, disclaim and correct the article name, and never add features absent from the original sheets.

Where a missing view would reveal something never shown, a fresh application is cleaner, unless the product is already on sale and section 4(b) bars it. That is the whole case for getting the sheets right first.

Worked example: a mixer grinder

Back to Rajkot. The new model has a rounded body, a sloped control panel, a rotary knob marked 0 to 3, the brand name on the front, and three jars. The client wants to stop look-alike bodies.

1. Article and class. "Mixer Grinder", Locarno class 31-00 (machines and appliances for preparing food or drink, not elsewhere specified). The jars, sold separately as spares, can be filed as parts in their own applications.
2. Views. Six orthographic views and a front-top perspective of the body with the large jar fitted. Include the bottom view: its vents and feet are part of the shape.
3. Clean-up. Remove the brand name from every view, and the 0 to 3 markings too, unless the dial graphic is part of the look; then keep it and disclaim the numerals. Delete dimension lines and render on white.
4. Colour. It comes in red and black, and the client wants the shape in any colour, so file greyscale renders.
5. Statement and disclaimers. "The novelty resides in the shape and configuration of the MIXER GRINDER as illustrated", followed by the mechanical disclaimer, and the words-and-marks disclaimer if any numerals stay.
6. Layout. Applicant's name top left, "Sheet 1 of 2" top right, views labelled in words, statement and disclaimers at the foot of each sheet, dated and digitally signed.

What stays out: the exploded CAD view, the motor cross-section and the lifestyle photo. Each invites an objection, and none shows the design more clearly than seven plain views.

Pre-filing checklist for drawing sheets

Run this on the final file, with Form-1 beside you.

How MYCrave can help

MYCrave Consultancy & Services works with product teams from the CAD file to the filed sheet:

• Design registration: view selection, sheet preparation, novelty statement, disclaimers and e-filing of Form-1.
• A pre-filing review of drawings your team prepares in-house, against rule 14 and the checklist above, including the class and article name.
• Replies to examination reports and hearings under rule 18, fixing formalities without changing the design.
• Trademark filing for the brand name and logo you took off the drawings.

Hand the sheets to a stranger first

Every line on a representation sheet decides what you can later stop others copying. If a look-alike turns up in two years, the comparison starts from your registered sheets, not your product or what you meant to protect.

So before you file, print the sheets and give them to someone who has never seen the product. Ask them to describe it back. If they can, and there is no logo, dimension or kitchen counter on the page, you are ready. Our guide on what to do when someone copies your product design shows why it matters.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading