Can India’s Designs Act Protect 3D-Printed Fashion Made in Limited Runs

Introduction : 3D printing is changing the legal meaning of manufacture in a way that fashion law cannot treat as a technological detail. A garment can now be designed digitally, produced layer by layer, adjusted to an individual body and sold as a single commissioned piece or a small run. The central question under India’s Designs Act, 2000 is therefore whether such production is sufficiently industrial for design protection. The first difficulty is terminological. The Designs Act does not...