Korean designs add depth, animation on the way

IP Frontline's IPMT News magazine reports that KIPO, the Korean Patent Office, is now accepting CAD filings, so that users can upload a true 3D representation of a design. Apparently there has been a good takeup - 1.4% overall were filed this way, with the civil construction industry being big users. It will be possible to file movie animations using Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) from April.

Now Korea does it with class

One further small piece has just been slotted into place in that great jigsaw of international intellectual property. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has issued a media release to the effect that the Republic of Korea is signing up for the Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs; this Agreement will enter into force with respect to the Republic of Korea on April 17, 2011.

Asian applications- an analysis

APAA, the Asian Patent Attorneys Association, held their Design Committee meeting in Jeju, Korea on 17th October under the joint chairmanship of Minako Mizuno and Peter Heathcote.  The meeting concentrated on practical issues of what can be filed as a design, and included whether:

• designs are available for separate component parts of products,
• designs are available for integral parts of products,
• designs are available for icons,
• multiple designs are available,
• sets are available,
• dashed lines can be used,
• statements of novelty are required.

 You can find the extremely detailed sets of responses from the official groups of Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam on APAA's 2010 website here. 

Korean design law changes

The Korean design system has been revised, supposedly in the light of the credit crunch (though we fear that the design system alone cannot drive the world back into growth). Changes include

• Request for re-examination, as a cheaper alternative to filing an appeal, in the face of rejection;
• Cheaper late payment fines on renewals.

These appear to have kicked in on 1st July 2009, according to Nayoung Kim of Kim & Chang writing in the International Law Office Intellectual Property newsletter.

Oh, and any Patent Office staff who spill the beans can be sent to chokey for up to 5 years. If you are both curious as to the Korean jail experience and deeply unshockable, here's a link to a Midnight Express-style memoir of same - otherwise, not recommended reading. At that level of deterrence, your design filing is probably safe in their hands.