Fashion industry in India is growing day by day and it has experienced significant expansion in the last decade mainly driven by the growth of domestic designers, some of whom have gained international recognition in recent years. On the one side, the Indian fashion industry is thriving; on the other hand, it is beleaguered by the menace of piracy in fashion design. The industry people, particularly fashion designers, have been found complaining about their innovations being imitated and copied. This paper aims establish that there is a requirement of laws for protection of unregistered fashion designs in India considering the growth of the fashion industry in the current times where piracy of designs has become a common problem which acts as a barrier to creativity of new designs which on copying loses its value. Hence, instead of resorting to the Copyright Act or the Trademarks Act for protection of their designs, the fashion designers deserve a single legislation which protects the product of their creativity without having to go through the process of registering each and every design that they create and also gives a chance to the upcoming designers to display their creations in the market without the issue of piracy in the industry. The paper will enhance the need for the amendment or revision in the Designs Act, 2000 by comparing and contrasting the international laws regarding protection of unregistered designs and providing suggestions and recommendations to be made in the current Indian law for protection of designs. Considering the stakeholders at hand, there is a necessity for reform of the current law which would not only encourage creativity and innovation among designers but also ensure that these designers have fallback options in case of piracy of their designs.

 Download Full Paper