Indian Army Files IPR For New Combat Uniform; Procurement For 11.7 Lakh Sets By Aug 2023

To establish the ownership of the Indian Army over the new camouflage pattern and design of the Improved combat uniform, the registration process has been completed by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademark, Kolkata. It has been published in the official journal of the Patent Office, dated October 21, 2022. 

It’s important to recall that the new digital pattern combat uniform for Indian Army soldiers was unveiled on January 15, 2022 on the occasion of Army Day. The improved uniform has been given a functional design to meet the requirements of contemporary times. The fabric cloth of the uniform has been made lighter, stronger, breathable, quick drying and easier to maintain. Modular changes have been done in the uniform for the women personnel and accordingly, the uniform’s uniqueness is evident with the inclusion of gender-specific modifications for women’s combat uniform.

Unauthorised manufacturing of Army uniform to invite legal action

The exclusive ‘Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)’ of the newly unveiled uniform now rests solely with the Indian Army and thus unauthorised manufacturing of the new army uniform will invite legal action. Therefore, manufacturing by any vendor who is not authorised to do so will be illegal and is liable to face legal repercussions. 

Any breach of the IPR may result in damages for the person or institution violating the norms. Indian Army now has exclusive rights to the design and can file infringement suits in the form of a civil action before a competent court of law. Remedies against infringements include interim and permanent injunctions as well as damages.

50K uniform sets already procured

The introduction process of the new Army uniform has kicked off and as a first step, 50,000 individual kits (Life Cycle Concept with life of 15 months) have been procured and procurement of 11.70 lakh sets for JCOs and OR is under process and is likely to commence from August 2023. 

A total of 50,000 sets have already been procured and delivered to 15 Canteen Stores Department (CSD) Depots (Delhi, Leh, BD Bari, Srinagar, Udhampur, Andaman & Nicobar, Jabalpur, Masimpur, Narangi, Dimapur, Bagdogra, Lucknow, Ambala, Mumbai and Khadki). 

The instructors from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi have been roped in for conducting workshops to train civil and military tailors in stitching the new uniform as per the specified design.

Image: ANI