The existence of projective-dual-anticipating, projective-dual, and projective-dual-lag synchronization in a coupled time-delayed systems with modulated delay time is investigated via nonlinear observer design approach. Transition from projectivedual-anticipating to projective-dual synchronization and from projective-dual to projective-dual-lag synchronization as a function of variable coupling delay τ p (t) is discussed. Using Krasovskii-Lyapunov stability theory, a general condition for projective-dual synchronization is derived. Numerical simulations on the chaotic Ikeda and Mackey-Glass systems are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.