Intellectual Property Rights - Law and Practice · Industrial Designs

Effect of Exhibition and Government Rights under the Designs Act

Updated 11 October 2026 · Fact-checked

Under Section 21 of the Designs Act, 2000, showing a design at a notified exhibition does not prevent registration or invalidate it, if the exhibitor gives the Controller prior notice and applies within six months of first exhibiting. Under Section 20, a registered design binds the Government like any person.

Understand Effect of Exhibition and Government Rights

A design must be new. Section 4 says a design disclosed to the public anywhere in India or abroad before the filing date (or priority date) cannot be registered. So a designer who shows a product publicly before filing would normally lose protection.

Section 21 gives a limited safe harbour for exhibitions. Many designers need to display new products at trade fairs. The law lets them do so without losing the right to register, but only on conditions.

The exhibition must be an industrial or other exhibition to which the Central Government has extended Section 21 by notification in the Official Gazette. An ordinary fair that has not been notified does not qualify. The protection covers exhibiting the design or an article to which it is applied, and publishing a description of the design, during or after the exhibition. It also covers exhibition or publication by anyone else, anywhere, without the privity or consent of the proprietor.

Two provisos apply. First, the exhibitor must give the Controller previous notice in the prescribed form. Second, the application for registration must be made within six months from the date of first exhibiting the design or article, or first publishing a description of it.

Section 20 deals with the Government. A registered design has the like effect against the Government as it has against any person. The provisions of Chapter XVII of the Patents Act, 1970 apply to registered designs as they apply to patents. So Government use is not free of the proprietor's rights. It is dealt with through the Patents Act machinery, which you should read alongside the topic on application of patent provisions to designs.

Key rules to remember

Section 21 safe harbour: Notified exhibition + previous notice to Controller + application within 6 months of first exhibition/publication = no bar to registration, no invalidation; All three conditions must be met. The exhibition must be one to which Section 21 has been extended by Gazette notification.
Section 21 proviso (a): Exhibitor gives the Controller previous notice in the prescribed form; Notice must come before the exhibition, not after.
Section 21 proviso (b): Application filed ≤ 6 months from date of first exhibiting or first publishing a description; Count from the first exhibition or publication, not the last day of the exhibition.
Section 20: Registered design binds the Government like any person; Chapter XVII of the Patents Act, 1970 applies to designs as to patents; Do not say the Government is exempt from design rights.
Base rule in Section 4: Disclosure to the public before filing date or priority date = design not registrable; Section 21 is an exception to this rule.

How to solve Effect of Exhibition and Government Rights questions

For any question on exhibition or Government rights, work through the facts against the statutory conditions and then state a clear conclusion.

1Identify the issue: is it disclosure before filing (Section 21) or the Government's position (Section 20)?
2State the base rule: Section 4 bars registration of a design disclosed to the public before the filing date or priority date.
3Check whether the exhibition is one to which the Central Government has extended Section 21 by Gazette notification.
4Check proviso (a): did the exhibitor give the Controller previous notice in the prescribed form?
5Check proviso (b): was the application made within six months of first exhibiting or first publishing a description? Count from the earliest date.
6Note whether the disclosure was by the proprietor or by another person without the proprietor's privity or consent. The section covers both.
7For Government questions, state Section 20 and the application of Chapter XVII of the Patents Act, 1970.
8Conclude: registrable and valid, or barred, with the failed condition named.

Quickest way: Three-test check for Section 21

When to use it: Use it for short fact-based questions on whether a design shown at a fair can still be registered.

Test 1: Notified exhibition? If no, Section 21 does not help.
Test 2: Previous notice to the Controller in the prescribed form? If no, protection is lost.
Test 3: Filing within six months from first exhibition or publication? If no, protection is lost.
All three yes: registration is not prevented and not invalidated. Add one line on Section 4 for context.
For Section 20, write one line: Government is bound like any person, and Chapter XVII of the Patents Act applies.

Common mistakes in Effect of Exhibition and Government Rights

Saying any exhibition protects the design.
Students remember the exhibition exception but skip the notification requirement.
Fix: Always state that Section 21 applies only to exhibitions to which the Central Government has extended it by notification in the Official Gazette.
Ignoring the prior notice to the Controller.
The six-month period feels like the main condition.
Fix: Treat the notice and the six-month filing as two separate mandatory conditions. Notice must be previous.
Counting six months from the end of the exhibition.
Students assume the period runs from the close of the event.
Fix: The text says six months from the date of first exhibiting the design or article or publishing a description of the design.
Thinking the section covers only the proprietor's own exhibition.
Students read it as the owner's privilege only.
Fix: It also covers exhibition or publication by any person elsewhere without the proprietor's privity or consent.
Saying the Government can use a registered design freely.
Confusion with general ideas of sovereign immunity.
Fix: Section 20 says the registered design has the like effect against the Government as against any person, and Chapter XVII of the Patents Act, 1970 applies.
Confusing Section 21 with the six-month convention priority in Section 44.
Both use a six-month period.
Fix: Section 44 is about priority from a foreign application. Section 21 is about exhibition or publication. The start dates differ.

Worked examples

Example 1

Anita Home Products Pvt. Ltd. exhibits a new lamp design at an industrial exhibition to which Section 21 has been extended by notification. It gave the Controller previous notice in the prescribed form. The exhibition was on 10 March. It files for registration on 20 August of the same year. Can the design be registered?

Show the solution

Provision: Section 4 bars a design disclosed to the public before the filing date. Section 21 saves a design exhibited at a notified exhibition if two provisos are met.
Fact check, notification: the exhibition is notified, so the first requirement is met.
Fact check, notice: previous notice was given to the Controller in the prescribed form, so proviso (a) is met.
Fact check, time: the first exhibition was on 10 March. Six months from that date ends on 10 September. Filing on 20 August is within this period, so proviso (b) is met.
Conclusion: the exhibition does not prevent registration or invalidate it.

Answer: Yes. All conditions of Section 21 are satisfied, so the exhibition does not bar registration of the lamp design.

Example 2

The Central Government has not extended Section 21 to a trade fair in Pune. Rohit shows his new bottle design there without notice to the Controller. Eight months later he applies for registration. A rival says the design is not registrable. Advise Rohit. Also state whether the Government could use his design if registered.

Show the solution

Provision: Section 4(b) bars a design disclosed to the public before the filing date.
Section 21 applies only to an exhibition to which the Central Government has extended it by notification. The Pune fair is not notified.
Rohit also gave no previous notice to the Controller, and he filed eight months after the first exhibition, beyond the six months allowed.
Three conditions fail, so Section 21 gives no shelter. The public display is a prior disclosure under Section 4, and the design is likely to be refused or, if registered, open to invalidation.
On Government use: if a design is validly registered, Section 20 says it has the like effect against the Government as against any person, and Chapter XVII of the Patents Act, 1970 applies to it.

Answer: Rohit cannot rely on Section 21, so the rival is right that the design is not registrable. If a design is validly registered, Section 20 makes it bind the Government like any person.

Exam tips

Quote the two provisos to Section 21 separately and then apply each to the facts. Marks follow the structure: provision, analysis, conclusion.
Write the word notified when discussing the exhibition. It is the condition most often missed.
In a date problem, show the six-month calculation from the first exhibition or publication date.
For Section 20, name Chapter XVII of the Patents Act, 1970. A one-line answer without it is incomplete.
If asked to contrast, link Section 21 with Section 4 as exception and rule.

Practice questions from Industrial Designs

Effect of Exhibition and Government Rights: frequently asked questions

Can a design be registered in India after it has been exhibited?

Yes, in the case covered by Section 21. The exhibition must be one to which the Central Government has extended the section by notification. The exhibitor must give the Controller previous notice and file within six months of first exhibiting.

What is the time limit under Section 21 of the Designs Act, 2000?

The application must be made within six months from the date of first exhibiting the design or article or publishing a description of the design. A later filing loses the protection of the section.

Does the Section 21 protection apply if someone else exhibits my design?

Yes. The section covers exhibition or publication by any person elsewhere without the privity or consent of the proprietor. The provisos still apply.

Is the Government bound by a registered design?

Yes. Section 20 says a registered design has the like effect against the Government as against any person. Chapter XVII of the Patents Act, 1970 applies to registered designs as it applies to patents.