2007-08-22 오후 4:37:29   269   Design system improvements starting in July - Reinforcing the creativity requirements in non-examination applications - Creativity will be considered during the review of non-examination design applications to prevent the registration of designs that can be created by anyone. Two design items will also be added to non-examination applications, including image designs that need to acquire early rights due to their high sensitivity to trends. On June 20th, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO, Commissioner: Sang-Woo Jun) announced that the revision of the design protection law and its subsidiary ordinances is scheduled to be completed by the end of this month. The revision will increase the convenience of designers. KIPO announced that the revised design system will be enforced starting July 1st. According to this revision, the issue of ‘whether the design can be easily created by anyone’ is now considered during the review of non-examination design applications. If the review decides that the design lacks unique creativity, the design will not be registered. The review for creativity is limited to ‘judging if the design was easily created by independently or jointly using forms, shapes, colors or tones that are commonly known in Korea.’ By setting such a limit, the basic aim of the non-examination system, giving early rights to proper designs, will not be hindered. The image designs of manufactured foods and table luxuries (A1), sensitive to trend and imitation, are now included in the scope of non-examination applications. Under certain conditions, non-examination applications are registered as designs without a separate design search procedure. Although enforcement of this extension has been postponed for six moths, related applications filed after January 1st, 2008 are included within the extended scope. Under this revision, once a design is waived or rejected after being filed, it is considered as not having the position of a pre-application. A design similar to the waived or rejected design will be able to receive design registration. Design applications that are rejected by the failure to agreement preserve their position of a pre-application to protect the aim of the agreement system. These design applications will be added on the design notice list. The period to request design confidentiality has also been extended. Before, the only time applicants could request that their design applications shall not be disclosed was at the moment they filed . With this revision, applicants can make their request at any time between filing the applications and paying the initial registration fee. The revision also includes the following; • extending subjects for refunding registration fees/service charges to increase the convenience of applicants; and • allowing remote work of design examiners by providing a foundation for documental submission for remote working. The subsidiary ordinances of the design protection law have also been revised to reduce the number of sketches necessary for design applications from the current 25 documents to 22 documents (a 12% reduction). These ordinances will take effect on January 1st, 2008. This revision and improvement of the design system focuses on reinforcing the protection of design rights and increasing the convenience of applicants. The Director General Won-Joong Kim of the Trademark and Design Examinations Bureau commented, “This revision was made to allow designers convenience in receiving proper protections on their designs of great labor.”