The WIPO Global Design Database is a free public search tool maintained by the World Intellectual Property Organization. It brings together industrial design registrations from the Hague System, the international registration mechanism WIPO administers, and from the national and regional collections of participating offices. Anyone with an internet connection can search it at no cost, without creating an account, though registered users can save searches and record sets for later use.
For designers, businesses, and IP practitioners, the database serves a specific purpose: it lets a person check what has already been registered before committing to a design or filing an application. That check matters under Indian law because the Designs Act, 2000 measures novelty on a global basis. A design disclosed anywhere in the world prior to the filing date can bar registration or ground a cancellation petition. Searching only the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM) register at ipindia.gov.in leaves the rest of that global pool unsearched.
What the WIPO Global Design Database Covers
The database draws from two distinct pools of data. The first is the Hague International Collection, which contains every industrial design registered through the Hague System since the system’s modern records begin. This collection is updated weekly. The second pool consists of national and regional collections contributed by participating offices: as of October 2025, 41 offices have made their data available, following the addition of Croatia. The participating offices include major design jurisdictions such as China, the European Union Intellectual Property Office, Japan, and the United States.
India’s national collection was added on 6 October 2020. At the time of that addition the collection contained over 58,000 design models; the figure has grown since as the CGPDTM continues to communicate updates to WIPO, though WIPO has not published a revised count for India’s sub-collection specifically. Across all sources, the database as a whole covers over 15 million designs as of the date of this article.
Not every office in the world participates. The GDD is a representative cross-section of global design activity, not an exhaustive legal register of every registered design in every jurisdiction. WIPO acknowledges this directly: users who need a definitive clearance search for a specific country should also check that country’s national office register separately.
Why Indian Applicants Cannot Rely on IP India’s Design Search Alone
The design search available through the CGPDTM at ipindia.gov.in covers registrations filed with and processed by the Indian Patent Office. It is a keyword and number-based tool: a searcher can query by application number, proprietor name, class, or article description. What it does not support is image-based searching. A person who wants to know whether a shape, configuration, or ornamental pattern similar to their own design has been registered elsewhere cannot do that through the CGPDTM tool.
The WIPO Global Design Database addresses part of that gap. Its Grid view displays the actual registered design images in a condensed format, allowing a searcher to browse visually rather than rely entirely on keywords or classification codes. A person can search by Locarno class, the international classification system adopted by the Designs Rules, 2001, narrow results by source and designation country, and then scan the images that come back. That visual scan, while not a substitute for a professional clearance search, gives a materially different picture of the global design landscape than a keyword query against a single national register.
The legal basis for this concern is Section 4 of the Designs Act, 2000, which prohibits registration of a design that has been published anywhere in India or in any other country prior to the filing date. Applicants registering a design in India go through a formal examination process at the Patent Office, Kolkata, where the Controller checks novelty on this global standard. A prior registration in Germany, Japan, or the United States is as capable of defeating a novelty objection as a prior registration in India. The Manual of Designs Practice and Procedure published by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks confirms that novelty under the Designs Act, 2000 is determined with reference to disclosure anywhere in the world, contrasting explicitly with the India-only standard that applied under the older Patents and Designs Act, 1911.
India’s design filing activity also means the Indian sub-collection in the GDD is increasingly useful for foreign designers checking into the Indian market. According to WIPO’s IP Facts and Figures 2024, India saw 36.4% growth in design filing in 2023, among the highest growth rates of any top-10 origin by design count. More Indian designs entering the global pool each year means the GDD’s India collection reflects a more active market than the filing numbers of earlier years suggested.
How to Run a Search on the WIPO Global Design Database
The search interface at designdb.wipo.int is organised into five search tabs and a set of filters that operate on top of any query.
Design tab. This tab carries three fields: Indication of Products (a text description of the article), Design Class (where Locarno class codes or descriptive words can be entered), and Description (free text in the registration). Applicants who know the Locarno class for their product category will find this the most targeted entry point. For those unfamiliar with Locarno, the field accepts descriptive words and suggests matching class codes automatically.
Names tab. Searches by the name of the holder, the creator, or the legal representative. Creator information is not available for every collection; its presence depends on what the contributing national office provides.
Numbers tab. Searches by publication number or application number. For Hague registrations, both fields retrieve the same records because the system does not maintain separate application and publication numbers.
Dates tab. Searches by filing date or registration date, individually or as a range. Records for pending applications may not carry a registration date yet.
Country tab. Searches by standard two-letter country codes or country names. The tab distinguishes between Origin (the country of the original applicant) and Designation (countries listed as affected by the record). For prior art searches by an Indian applicant, filtering by origin to a specific competitor jurisdiction can help scope a focused search.
Each tab supports Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), wildcards (* for multiple characters, ? for a single character), proximity operators to find two terms within a specified word distance, and fuzzy matching for approximate spellings. Multiple search terms combine with AND by default: every active term must be satisfied for a record to appear.
The Filter By panel sits alongside the search tabs and allows narrowing by Source (which national or international collection the record comes from), Designation, Locarno Class, and Registration Date. Filters update the result count immediately on selection, before a searcher commits to applying them. The results pane offers two display formats: List view shows bibliographic fields in rows, and Grid view shows the actual design images in a condensed mosaic. For visual prior art searches, Grid view is the more useful starting point. Results can be downloaded in batches of up to 100 records.
What the Search Results Tell You — and What They Do Not
A GDD search result confirms that a particular design was registered in a particular jurisdiction on a particular date. It does not confirm whether that registration is currently in force, whether it has been renewed, or whether it would survive a validity challenge in that jurisdiction. The database provides status information for Hague international registrations via the Hague Express Database, which is updated weekly and carries detailed historical information. For national collection records, the currency of the data depends on how frequently the contributing national office sends updates to WIPO; this varies by office and is not guaranteed to reflect real-time status.
The GDD and the Hague Express Database serve different purposes. The GDD allows cross-collection searching: a single query returns results from the Hague System and from participating national offices simultaneously. The Hague Express Database covers only the Hague System and includes bibliographic data and reproductions of designs bearing a registration date as from 3 January 1985. Practitioners who need the full record history of a specific international registration, including all subsequent transactions and renewals, use Hague Express for that purpose. The GDD is the broader discovery tool; Hague Express is the deeper record tool for Hague-specific registrations.
The pager in the results area is limited to the first 1,000 records of any search. A query that returns more than 1,000 matching results will not show everything; the search needs to be narrowed using additional filters or more specific terms before relying on the results as a complete picture. For searches returning large numbers, filtering by Locarno class and then by source or date narrows the field to a manageable set.
WIPO’s Terms of Use for the GDD require users who cite the database in publications or reports to identify it as “WIPO Global Design Database” and to include a specified disclaimer that WIPO bears no responsibility for the integrity or accuracy of the data, particularly where deletion, manipulation, or reformatting may have occurred. Bulk downloading and automated querying are prohibited under the same terms. Accessing the database’s e-filing fee structure or any downstream filing decision based on a GDD search should involve professional review of the results, not direct reliance on the database alone as a clearance tool.
How India’s Design Filing Growth Makes the GDD More Relevant Now
India’s design filing activity has grown at a rate that makes prior art searches more consequential than they were a decade ago. WIPO’s IP Facts and Figures 2024 report, which draws on 2023 filing data, places India among the top 10 origins by design count, with growth of 36.4% in 2023. That growth rate was the second-highest among the top-10 origins for that year. The same report notes that India’s resident design count per USD 100 billion GDP stood at 186 in 2023, a figure that reflects both the current filing rate and the scope for continued expansion.
For Indian applicants, the practical consequence is that the global pool of registered designs that could conflict with a new application is larger and more varied than it was a decade ago. Businesses that want exclusive rights in India must file a design application with the CGPDTM before the design enters the public domain, and the novelty assessment at examination will sweep in any prior disclosure worldwide. Using the GDD as part of a pre-filing search, not as the only step, but as one structured input alongside a search of the national register and any jurisdiction-specific databases relevant to the applicant’s market, reduces the risk of filing against an already-registered design.
For foreign applicants whose designs have been registered in participating jurisdictions, the GDD also means their registered designs are visible to Indian companies and designers conducting searches before filing. That visibility is a consequence of participation rather than a separate action by the foreign rights holder. Designers seeking to extend protection internationally may file through the Hague System, and India’s engagement with the Riyadh Design Law Treaty signals a possible expansion of that international filing route for Indian applicants in future. Separately, proposed amendments to the Designs Act, 2000 currently before Parliament would, if enacted, alter the novelty standard and term of protection, which would affect how prior art searches are conducted and what a GDD result means for registration prospects.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the WIPO Global Design Database free to use?
Yes. The GDD is a free-of-charge public service. No subscription or payment is required to run searches or view records. Creating a user account is optional and free; it allows a person to save searches and record sets between sessions. WIPO’s Terms of Use prohibit bulk downloading and automated querying, but individual searches and record downloads of up to 100 records at a time are permitted.
Does searching the GDD confirm my design is free to register?
No. A GDD search is one input into a prior art assessment, not a clearance opinion. The database does not include every registered design in every country: national offices that do not participate are not represented, and update frequencies for national collections vary. A finding of no results means no matching design was found in the collections searched on the date of the search. Whether a design meets the novelty and originality requirements for registration in a specific jurisdiction requires professional assessment against the applicable statute and a broader search that may include non-participating office registers.
India’s design office has its own search tool. Why use the GDD as well?
The CGPDTM register at ipindia.gov.in covers Indian-registered designs. The GDD covers designs from the Hague System and from 41 participating national and regional offices. Under the Designs Act, 2000, novelty is assessed against prior disclosure anywhere in the world. A design registered in France or South Korea is capable of defeating a novelty argument in an Indian application just as much as a design registered in India. The CGPDTM search tool does not index foreign registrations, and it does not support image-based browsing. The GDD does not replicate the CGPDTM search either: the two tools are complementary, not interchangeable.
How current is the data in the GDD?
The Hague International Collection is updated weekly. National collection updates depend on how frequently each participating national office communicates new data to WIPO. There is no uniform standard for how often national offices transmit updates, so the currency of a particular national collection within the GDD will vary. For the most current status of a specific Indian design registration, checking the CGPDTM register directly remains the authoritative source.
What is the difference between the GDD and the Hague Express Database?
The GDD searches across all participating sources simultaneously: the Hague System and the national and regional collections of participating offices. The Hague Express Database covers only international registrations under the Hague System and includes bibliographic data and design reproductions for registrations bearing a registration date from 3 January 1985 onwards. Hague Express is updated weekly and is the appropriate tool for tracking the full transaction history, renewal status, and detailed record data of a specific international registration. The GDD is the wider discovery tool; Hague Express is the deeper record tool for Hague-specific registrations.
We found a design in the GDD that looks similar to ours. What should we do next?
A visual similarity in the GDD is a signal for professional review, not a definitive answer. The relevant questions are whether the registered design is still in force in the relevant jurisdiction, whether the similarity is sufficient to affect novelty or individual character under the applicable law, and whether the specific article class involved overlaps with the proposed registration. A design attorney can assess the search results against the standard applicable in the jurisdiction of interest and advise on whether to proceed, modify the design, or seek further searches before filing.
Can I download or export records from the GDD?
Individual record sets of up to 100 records can be downloaded as a report. The report format can be customised by selecting specific columns in the List view before generating. Bulk downloading of the full database or large automated queries are prohibited under WIPO’s Terms of Use. The data may not be sold or sublicensed. When citing GDD data in a report or publication, users are required to identify “WIPO Global Design Database” as the source and include the standard WIPO disclaimer on data accuracy.
This article provides general information about the WIPO Global Design Database as it operates under WIPO’s published terms and Indian design law as at April 2026. It does not constitute legal advice for any specific design or jurisdiction. Readers should seek specific legal advice based on their factual situation.