Introduction

A Graphic User Interface (GUI) which allows users to interact with electronic devices or machines, is widely used in the present digital age. The term was coined in the 1970s to distinguish graphical interfaces from text-based ones, such as command line interfaces (CLI), etc. Apple’s GUI-based operating system – Macintosh, Microsoft’s Windows, Mobile Touch Screens, and other 3D interfaces (Eg. Augmented Reality) are all examples of GUIs.

Protection of GUI: A Look at Locarno Classification and Designs (Amendment) Rules, 2021

Just as trademarks are classified into various classes of goods and services provided for in the internationally accepted NICE classification, Designs also have a classification of articles to which a design can be applied, known as the Locarno Classification.

The Locarno Classification, developed under the Locarno Agreement (1968), is an international classification used for registering industrial designs. India became the 57^th member to be a signatory to the Locarno agreement in 2019. The changes were incorporated through the Designs (Amendment) Rules, 2021, thereby bringing the classification of industrial designs at par with the rest of the world as opposed to the previous national classification.

Subsequently, on 25^th January 2021, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry notified the Designs (Amendment) Rules, 2021, which substituted Rule 10 of the Design Rules 2001, and incorporated the current edition of the Locarno Classification, which specifically created Class 14 – Recording, telecommunication, or data processing equipment, with a subclass “Class 14-04 – Screen Displays and Icons”, and further provided for Class 32, allowing for two-dimensional graphic designs, graphic symbols, and logos, to be protected under the Designs Act, 2000, provided that these designs satisfy the essentials of an ‘Article’ and a ‘Design’ as defined in Sections 2(a) and 2(d) of the Act.

Lacunae in Legislation

As per the Designs Act, 2000, a design means “only the features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament, or composition of lines or colours applied to any article, whether in two dimensional or three dimensional or in both forms, by any industrial process or means, whether manual, mechanical or chemical, separate, or combined, …”

Now, this is precisely where the problem arises. Even after the Locarno Classification was introduced and the Designs Rules were amended to deal with confusion and uncertainties in the classification of industrial designs, the lawmakers have failed to amend the definition of ‘Design’ and bring the Designs Act, 2000, along the same lines. Further, the Controllers make conflicting observations and the interpretations provided by them seem to lack uniformity.

A GUI should be protected since its intrinsic purpose is to enhance the visual appeal of the program and thus build on its commercial value. The definition of a design given under the Act is limited and does not expressly provide for graphics and/or software. Due to this lacuna, the definition is open to multiple interpretations.

Practice Followed by the Indian Design Office

Before 2009, Microsoft was granted registration for some of its designs under Class 14-99, in the ‘Miscellaneous’ category. Thereafter, in the year 2014, Amazon filed a design application under no. 240305 pertaining to a “Graphic user interface for providing supplemental information of a digital work to a display screen”, which was rejected by the Design Office, on the grounds that GUIs do not qualify as designs under Section 2(d) of the Act, they lacked “consistent eye appeal” and were not physically accessible.

Over the years, several new applications for the registration of GUIs have been filed. While a few have been granted[1], most Examiners opine that the GUIs do not fall under the definition of ‘designs’ and hence, cannot be protected. Hence, applicants are wary of filing design applications for registration of GUIs due to the absence of robust precedents.

Observations made by US Courts

In Ex Parte Tayama[2], the Court made the following observations –

1. Programmed Computer Systems would suffice to be termed as an article of manufacture.
2. Design (GUI) is an integral part of computer programmes.

Further, the patent battle[3] between Apple and Samsung (2011 – 2018) ended with Apple being awarded $539 million for Samsung’s infringement of its initial design. Apple was all the while contending to protect its “Total User Experience”.

Various Design Patents have been granted by USTPO, such as apparatus for displaying the path of a computer program error as a sequence of hypertext documents in a computer system having display[4], device, method, and graphical user interface for adjusting content selection[5], etc.

European Union’s Position

EU also provides wide protection to designs under EU Directive 98/71/EC on Legal Protection of Designs. GUIs in the EU are generally registered under the Community Design Regulation (Council Regulation No. 6/2002/EC) but may also exist as unregistered Community Designs. The regulation, however, excludes computer programmes.

Conclusion

The current definition of a design is inadequate and does not expressly cover the aspects of graphics/GUIs. Undoubtedly, the various developments in the IT industry have made the world realize the importance of protecting graphics. However, the introducing of international classification (Locarno Classification) and bringing amendments to existing laws are not sufficient. It is imperative to establish new guidelines and provide appropriate training to the Examiners at the Design Office so that a uniform mechanism is in place to facilitate the registration of graphic symbols/GUIs.