Start here
Eight kinds of intellectual property cover most of what a person or business creates or makes in India. Each protects something different, comes from a different source, and lasts for a different time. Pick the one that matches what you have, or read them in order using the Next links at the foot of each page.
Patents
A twenty-year right over a new, non-obvious, industrially useful product or process, in exchange for disclosing it.
Open Patents → 2 · Creative worksCopyright
Protects books, music, films, software and art from the moment they are made, usually for sixty years after the author dies.
Open Copyright → 3 · BrandsTrademarks
Protects names, logos and other signs that tell buyers whose goods they are, renewable every ten years.
Open Trademarks → 4 · Know-howTrade secrets
Protects confidential business information for as long as it stays secret. India has no dedicated statute.
Open Trade secrets → 5 · Place-based productsGeographical indications
Protects names such as Darjeeling tea whose quality comes from their place of origin. Held collectively by producers.
Open GI Atlas → 6 · AppearanceDesigns
Protects the look of a product, its shape, pattern or ornament, for ten years, extendable by five.
Open Designs → 7 · Seeds and cropsPlant varieties
Protects new crop varieties for breeders while keeping farmers free to save, sow and sell their seed.
Open Plant varieties → 8 · SemiconductorsChip layout-designs
Protects the layout of an integrated circuit for ten years under a dedicated Act.
Open Chip layouts →Which one do I need?
Choose what you want to protect. Many projects need more than one right, so the answer lists the main one and a common companion.
The answer will appear here.
The four side by side
| Patents | Copyright | Trademarks | Trade secrets | GIs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protects | New inventions | Original expression: literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, films, sound recordings[3] | Signs that distinguish goods or services[4] | Confidential information with commercial value[5] | Goods whose quality or reputation is due to their place of origin |
| Main law | Patents Act, 1970 | Copyright Act, 1957 | Trade Marks Act, 1999 | No statute. Contract, breach of confidence, other laws; a draft Bill exists. | Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 |
| Arises how | By grant after examination | On creation. Registration is optional | Registration under the Act | By keeping it secret | By registration, held collectively |
| How long | 20 years from filing | 60 years after the author’s death for published literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works | 10 years, renewable | As long as it stays secret | 10 years, renewable |
| Public record | Yes, published | Register of Copyrights | Trade Marks Register and Journal | None | GI Register, Parts A and B |
| Applications 2024-25 | 110,375 | 44,095 | 552,190 | Not applicable | 275 |
Each cell is explained, and sourced, on the page for that right. Application counts are from the IP India annual report.[1]
The other four rights
Four more rights protect narrower things. Each has its own page.
| Geographical indications | Designs | Plant varieties | Chip layout-designs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protects | Goods whose quality or reputation is due to their place of origin | The look of an article: shape, pattern, ornament, colours | New crop varieties, with farmers’ rights | The layout of transistors and connections in an integrated circuit |
| Main law | GI of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 | Designs Act, 2000 | Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001 | Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000 |
| How long | 10 years, renewable | 10 years, extendable by 5 | 15 years, or 18 for trees and vines, at most | 10 years |
| Register | GI Registry, Chennai | Designs register | PPV&FRA, New Delhi | Layout-Design Registry |
How busy each register is
Applications filed with the Indian IP Office in 2024-25.[1]
Applications filed, 2024-25
Number of applications. The GI count is for new applications. Source: IP India Annual Report 2024-25.
How they work together
One product often draws on several rights at once. An example, for a software product, shown as a pattern rather than a legal opinion:
The code
Copyright protects the program as an original literary work.[3]
The brand
The product name and logo can be registered as trade marks.[4]
The method
An algorithm or business method alone is excluded from patents, so it is often kept as a trade secret. A technical invention that goes beyond a program per se may be patentable.[5]
Geographical indications, which protect place-based products such as Darjeeling tea, are covered in the separate GI Atlas of India page: GI_Atlas_of_India.html. Keep that file in the same folder for the link to work.
About this series
- Each page cites the Act or office report where I could open it, and labels explainers and law-firm articles as secondary.
- Counts are for 2024-25, the latest annual report I could open. Later figures may exist.
- Not covered: international treaties, traditional knowledge databases and the Biological Diversity Act. The GI Atlas page is a separate file with its own references.
- Nothing here is legal advice.
References
Links are pages I opened while building this page. Where a source is a law-firm or explainer article rather than the Act itself, it is labelled secondary.
- IP India Annual Report 2024-25. ipindia.gov.in. Application counts for patents, trade marks, designs and copyright.
- Patents, copyright, trademarks, trade secrets. The sources for every statement on this page are listed on the four pages below. The pages for designs, plant varieties and chip layouts have their own lists, and the GI Atlas has its own: Patents, Copyright, Trademarks, Trade secrets.
- Copyright Act, 1957, section 13. India Code (PDF).
- Trade Marks Act, 1999, section 2(1)(zb). India Code (PDF).
- Patents Act, 1970, section 3(k). ipindia.gov.in. For trade secrets, see the Law Commission 289th Report summary on the trade secrets page.