SC, Clarification regarding Copyright vs Design for industrial works: Case of Cryogas Equipment Private Limited vs Inox India Limited, SC Judgement Dated 15th April 2025. The apex court has established a detailed framework to differentiate between works protected under the Copyright Act, 1957, and designs eligible for registration and protection under the Designs Act, 2000. The Bench clarified the distinction between ‘artistic work’ and ‘design,’ emphasising that while an artistic work may have copyright protection, its industrial application as a design is subject to the limitations of Section 15(2) of the Copyright Act and requires registration under the Designs Act.
— “We have thus formulated a two-pronged approach in order to crack open the conundrum caused by Section 15(2) of the Copyright Act so as to ascertain whether a work is qualified to be protected by the Designs Act. This test shall consider: (i) whether the work in question is purely an ‘artistic work’ entitled to protection under the Copyright Act or whether it is a ‘design’ derived from such original artistic work and subjected to an industrial process based upon the language in Section 15(2) of the Copyright Act; (ii) if such a work does not qualify for copyright protection, then the test of ‘functional utility’ will have to be applied so as to determine its dominant purpose, and then ascertain whether it would qualify for design protection under the Design Act.”(SC Judgement Dated 15/04/2025)