A common scenario prevalent in Bangladesh is replicating foreign or local brand clothes and accessories and selling them at a lower price in the market. In fact, if any design or product becomes popular or viral on social media, many local designers try to replicate that design. Moreover, many local designers often complain about getting their designs replicated without their consent. These conducts are considered as infringement of the intellectual property rights of the creators.

Nonetheless, large portion of the population is unaware of intellectual property rights. As a result, some of them are infringing the intellectual property rights of the creators, but the creators also do not initiate legal steps against the infringer. Replicating designs without authorisation also increases unfair business practices. They can initiate legal action if they are aware of their rights and the steps necessary to obtain the damages. In addition to that, to attract foreign companies to business here and to maintain fair business practices, strict regulation of intellectual property is needed. In order to safeguard these products with unique aesthetics, industrial designs— a type of intellectual property—may be used in this situation.

'Industrial design' refers to- "the aesthetic visibility of the characteristic shape, line, colour, graphical user interface, calligraphy, etc. of any manufactured product." An industrial design concerns the product's appearance; it is the ornamental or visually appealing element of the item. If any product's visibility is distinct and novel, then that product's visibility can be protected. Unlike patent, industrial design protects the ornamental or aesthetic aspects of the product. It focuses on the aesthetic nature of a finished product, excluding technical or functional aspects of the finished product. One may argue that products' appearance can be protected through copyright or trademark laws, but it may not always be correct. Trademark means a sign that may be used to differentiate the goods or services of one business from those of other businesses. Thus, a trademark's exclusivity forbids others from using the same or a similar trademark in business for the same or a similar product or service. On the other hand, copyright protects the right of the creator over their literary and artistic works. It is apparent that the scope of protection of these forms of Intellectual Property is different and focuses on different aspects of the creation.

While both the Paris Convention and Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) have provisions for the protection of industrial design, the WIPO member states adopted the Riyadh Design Law Treaty in a Diplomatic Conference in November 2024. This treaty aims to expedite and simplify design protection procedures, as well as enable designers, micro, small, and medium-sized businesses to acquire domestic and international design registrations at reasonable costs.

In Bangladesh, industrial designs have been protected since the colonial period, but recently, a new Act was passed in 2023 by repealing the previous Act. Let us delve into the key provisions of the Bangladesh Industrial Design Act 2023 (hereinafter The Act) for venturing into the new industrial design regime. Section 5 of the Act incorporates conditions for registrability of an industrial design in Bangladesh while section 4 categorically excludes certain designs that shall not be given protection. Moreover, the Act provides exclusive rights to the owner of the industrial design on registration of their industrial design. Hence, if any person uses the industrial design without authorisation of the owner for commercial purposes, then that person will infringe the rights of the owner, and the owner may initiate legal steps against the infringer under this Act. Exceptions to the protection under section 14 are included in the Act, such as actions carried out at educational or research institutes for educational and research purposes or for non-commercial reasons. Furthermore, section 6permits employers to register industrial designs made by employees under a contract unless the contract specifies otherwise. Additionally, this provision permits joint ownership of any industrial design. The Act's sections 22–26 further grant the owner of the design administrative, civil, and other remedies for infringement.

Now, it remains to be seen how pragmatic this Act can be in terms of design protection in Bangladesh. In the future, the Act could require certain changes to conform to the new design treaty. It is expected that the implementation of the Act may establish confidence in conducting business in Bangladesh for local designers as well as foreign big fashion houses. Simultaneously, the Act may safeguard customers from the malpractices by fraud designers. In fact, it will boost credibility in the region's seller-buyer relationships.

The writer is LLM Candidate, University of Dhaka.