Design Registration in Korea: A Guide for Foreign Applicants
Korean design registration protects the visual appearance of a product, part of a product, typeface, or qualifying image design. The scope of the right is determined principally by the application and its drawings, photographs, or other accepted representations.
Korea applies a first-to-file system. Product announcements, exhibitions, crowdfunding, sales, and online releases should therefore be coordinated with the filing date.
Registration requirements
A registrable design must fall within the statutory definition, be industrially applicable, satisfy novelty and creativity requirements, and avoid the grounds for non-registration. Those grounds include certain public-order concerns, confusing business indications, and shapes dictated solely by function.
The Design Protection Act provides a 12-month exception for specified applicant-derived disclosures, subject to formal requirements and evidence. Filing before disclosure remains the preferred approach because the exception does not remove independent third-party rights or address protection in other countries.
Application documents
A Korean application generally identifies the applicant and creator, the article or image embodying the design, and representations showing the claimed design. A description may be required to explain the views or claimed features. Priority details, priority documents, and a power of attorney are submitted where applicable.
An applicant without a domicile or place of business in Korea acts through a Korean representative. Paris Convention priority for a design is generally claimed within six months after the first design filing.
Representations and scope
The representations must show a consistent design. Depending on the product, the filing may include perspective, front, rear, left, right, top, bottom, sectional, or enlarged views. Photographs may be used when they satisfy the applicable requirements.
Common defects include inconsistent edges, unexplained differences among views, omitted surfaces, ambiguous shading, and an unclear boundary between claimed and unclaimed subject matter.
A partial-design application can claim a selected feature and disclaim the remaining portions through accepted drawing conventions. The claim should be prepared around the feature that requires protection and the likely forms of competitive imitation.
Examination routes
Korea operates a Substantive Examination System and a Partial-Substantive Examination System. The partial-substantive system applies to specified Locarno classes for products with short commercial life cycles. The current categories include foodstuffs, clothing and haberdashery, travel goods, textile and sheet materials, packages and containers, articles of adornment, and stationery and office equipment.
Substantive examination considers novelty, creativity, and the other registration requirements. Partial-substantive examination does not examine all of those requirements before registration and is supplemented by post-registration opposition and invalidation procedures.
No separate request for ordinary design examination is required. Preferential examination is available when a statutory or notified ground is met.
Official fees
MOIP's published schedule lists the following principal electronic fees:
- KRW 94,000 for a substantive-examination design application;
- KRW 45,000 per design for a partial-substantive application;
- KRW 18,000 for each priority claim; and
- KRW 70,000 for a preferential-examination request.
The schedule lists an annual fee of KRW 25,000 per design for each of years 1 to 3. Later annual fees increase according to the schedule. Professional fees, drawing preparation, translation, priority documents, and examination responses are separate.
Term of protection
A Korean design right arises on registration and continues until 20 years after the application date, subject to payment of annual fees. The term and ownership of a related-design right are governed in conjunction with the basic design under the Design Protection Act.
Direct filing and Hague designation
Korea has participated in the Hague System since 2014. A Hague application may be appropriate for coordinated protection in several countries. A direct Korean filing permits local preparation of the classification, representations, priority claim, and prosecution.
Korean substantive law applies to a Hague designation of Korea. The filing route should be selected after confirming whether the same representations and claim strategy are suitable in every designated jurisdiction.
Portfolio mechanisms
Korean practice includes partial designs, related designs for variations of a basic design, designs for sets of articles, multiple-design applications in specified circumstances, and secret-design treatment that defers publication for a limited period.
The relationship among designs, filing dates, and representations affects validity and scope. These issues should be settled before filing rather than addressed after a product family has been disclosed.
Official references
Related guidance
- Protecting GUI, Icon and Screen Designs in South Korea
- Korean Customs Recordation and Anti-Counterfeiting Enforcement
- Trademark Registration in South Korea: Cost, Timeline and Requirements
This article provides general information and does not constitute legal advice. Classification, fees, priority, and representation requirements should be confirmed for each design.
