Calcutta High Court Appoints Amicus Curiae to Resolve GUI Registrability Under Designs Act
Summary The Calcutta High Court has appointed Adv. Adarsh Ramanujan as amicus curiae to comprehensively address the registrability of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) under the Designs Act, 1970, following repeated rejections by the Indian Patent Office despite previous judicial guidance favoring GUI design protection. Background The Calcutta High Court appears determined to definitively resolve the contentious issue of GUI registrability under the Designs Act, 1970. In Erbe Elektromedizin GmbH v. The Controller of Patents (IPDAID/22/2024), the Court appointed Adv. Adarsh Ramanujan as amicus curiae to assist in determining questions concerning GUI design registration. This development follows the Court's earlier ruling in Ust Global (Singapore) Pte Ltd v. The Controller of Patents and Designs , where it indicated that GUIs are registrable as designs and remanded the matter to the Indian Patent Office (IPO) for reconsideration. However, upon re-examination, the C...