Requirements for Design Registration

• Industrial Applicability

  It refers to articles with the same design that can be manufactured in large quantities by industrial production methods.

• Novelty

  None of the following designs is eligible for design registration:

  A design that has been publicly known or worked in the Republic of Korea or a foreign country before an application for design registration is filed;

  A design described in a printed publication distributed in the Republic of Korea or a foreign country or made available to the public through telecommunications lines before an application for design registration is filed;

  A design that is similar to any of the designs specified in the above.

• Non-easiness of Creation

  A design is not eligible for design registration, if it could readily have been created by a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the design pertains in accordance with a design belonging to the aforesaid novelty prior to the filing of the application for design registration.

• Commencement and Term of Design Right

  A design right shall be valid from the registration date of grant of a design right;
  The design right lasts from the registration date of the grant to 20 years from the filing date of the design application;
  A design right for a related design transformed from a principal design expires at the end of the term of the design right for the principal design.

• Procedural Flow from Filing Design Application to Registration