KIPO Korean Intellectual Property Office : Designs Application Procedure South Korea
Name of the Organization : Korean Intellectual Property Office
Type of Facility : Designs Application Procedure
Country : South Korea
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Designs Application Procedure :
Currently, the Design Protection System in the Republic of Korea is in transition from a Substantive Examination System (SES) to a Non-Substantive Examination System (NSES).
Related : KIPO Patents & Utility Models Application Procedure South Korea : www.statusin.org/7583.html
In response to the request of applicants to expedite the procedure for the registration of designs, KIPO revised the Act, introducing the Non-Substantive Examination System for some short-term life-cycle products as of March 1, 1998.
Under the NSES, applicants may receive the registration within 1 or 2 months from the filing date and enjoy new procedures such as Multiple Application and Post-Grant Opposition for their convenience.
Even though the applications under the NSES are not examined substantially, the effects of rights under the NSES are identical with those under the SES. The registered rights under the NSES which do not fulfill the requirements, will be cancelled or invalidated through the Post-Grant Opposition or Trial.
Substantive Examination System(SES):
1. Filing an Application:
1) Documents required:
A person who wishes to obtain a design registration must submit the following documents to the Commissioner of KIPO:
(a) an application stating the name and address of the creator and the applicant (including the name of a representative, if the applicant is a juristic person), the date of submission, the article that is the object of the design, the number, country, filing date of earlier application (if the right of priority is claimed);
(b) reproductions of the design;
(c) if the right of priority is claimed, the priority document which is a certified copy of the priority application together with its Korean translation; and
(d) a power of attorney, if necessary.
Documents (a) and (b) above must be submitted at the time of filing the design application. The name of a representative of the applicant may be supplemented at a later time. The priority document and power of attorney can be submitted after the filing of the application.
2) Claim of Priority:
The right of priority may be claimed for a design application under the Paris Convention or international treaties such as on a bilateral or multilateral agreement. A person claiming a right of priority under paragraph (1) of this Article shall file an application for design registration within six months of the filing date of the earlier application that serves as the basis for claiming the right of priority
3) Drawings:
Drawings appended to a design application should contain:
(a) the article that is the object of the design
(b) a description of the design and essential components of the creation
(c) serial numbers of the design (only if the application is for multiple design registrations)
The description of a design is not as important as the specification of a patent or utility model application so long as the drawings of the design are correctly and properly prepared. An applicant for design registration may submit a photograph or a sample of the design instead of drawing(s).
Drawings may contain a prospective view, a front view, a rear view, a right side view, a left side view, a top view, a bottom view and other views (e.g. a sectional view) if necessary or useful in describing the design. Where the article representing the design is of a flat shape, only the top and the rear views need to be included in the drawings.
Formality Examination:
Once a design application is submitted to KIPO, it will be checked for all of the formal requirements necessary to accord a filing date of the application. Under Article 2(1) of the Enforcement Regulation of the Act, the application will be returned to the applicant without an application number and considered not to be submitted in any of the following cases:
1) where the kind of application is not clear;
2) where the name or address of a person (or juridicial person) who handles the procedure (i.e., the applicant) is not described;
3) where the application is not written in Korean;
4) where the application is not accompanied by drawings;
5) where the article(s) in which the design is embodied is not described; or
6) where the application is submitted by a person who has no address or place of business in the Republic of Korea, without a representative addressed in the Republic of Korea.
Once the application has fulfilled the formal requirements, KIPO assigns an application number and examines whether other formal requirements under the Act have been met or not.
The procedure dealing with the formality examination of a design application is the same as that of a patent application.