Lee International

Applications for designs of products that have short commercial life cycles are subject to partial-substantive examination and are granted registration within 10 days from the filing date in Korea.  The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced that the range of design products subject to partial-substantive examination would be expanded as of December 1, 2020.

The chart below shows the complete list of products that are subject to partial-substantive examination.

As of December 1, 2020

In the past, designs of products that have short commercial life cycles and are easily imitated, such as clothing, textiles, and stationery which belong in Locarno Classes 2, 5, and 19, were subject to a partial-substantive examination and examined only based on formality and the basic creativeness of the designs without being substantively examined to determine whether they are similar to prior designs.

As of December 1, 2020, however, designs of foodstuffs, bags, personal belongings, packaging, jewelry and articles of adornment, which belong in Locarno Classes 1, 3, 9 and 11, are now also subject to partial-substantive examination.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 11,307 design applications were filed for clothing, textiles and stationery from January 1, 2020 to October 2020, which relects a 24.2 percent increase compared to the same period during the previous year, and corresponds to approximately 20% of the total design applications.  The KIPO expects this proportion to increase to 35% as a result of expanding the range of products subject to partial-substantive examination.