– Design Law, as last amended on January 27, 2016 (effective from April 28, 2016), amended and effective from February 29, 2016, amended on March 21, 2017 (effective from September 22, 2017), on April 17, 2018 (partly effective from April 17, 2018, wholly effective from October 18, 2018), on January 8, 2019 (effective from July 9, 2019), on October 20, 2020 (effective from October 20, 2020), on December 22, 2020 (effective from June 23, 2021), on April 20, 2021 (effective from October 21, 2021), on August 17, 2021 (partly effective from November 18, 2021, wholly effective from February 18, 2022), on October 19, 2021 (effective from April 20, 2022), on February 3, 2022 (effective from February 3, 2022), on June 10, 2022 (effective from June 10, 2022), on October 18, 2022 (effective from October 18, 2022), on June 20, 2023 (effective from December 21, 2023), and on September 14, 2023 (effective from March 15, 2024).

– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since March 1, 1979.
– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act, since May 4, 1980.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since January 1, 1995.
– The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille), since July 14, 2007.
– Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs, since April 17, 2011.
– Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, Geneva Act, since July 1, 2014.

Applicant: the same as for “patents“.

Foreigners and nationals not living in the country: the same as for “patents“.

Assignment: the same as for “patents“.

Kinds of designs and models: ordinary designs, similar designs (similar to a registered or applied for design) and secret designs. As from the filing date of July 1, 2014, so-called “related designs” was introduced, replacing similar designs; related designs have their own protection scopes independent from their basic designs, unlike similar designs which have protection scopes subject to the basic designs. Designs having a short commercial life i.e. clothing, bedding, curtain and other upholstery fabric, stationery papers, labels, packing papers, fabric sheets, wall papers, synthetic resin sheet and other sensitive to fashion goods, can be filed in multiple designs (up to twenty – as from July 1, 2014, up to one hundred within the same class).

Secret design: any applicant for design registration may request that his design be kept secret for a maximum period of three years from the date of registration, which may be requested by payment of first registration fee.

Notion of design: an industrial design must be novel and applicable to articles (including part of an article, typeface and graphic) with regard to the shape, pattern or color or the combination of these and must be pleasing to the eye.

Registrable subject matter: designs which are industrially applicable and which are novel and involve creativity.

Not registrable: (1) designs identical or similar to national flags, emblems, marks of international organizations, etc.; (2) designs contrary to public order or morality; (3) designs which are liable to cause confusion with respect to articles connected with another person’s business; (4) designs consisting solely of a shape that is essential to secure the functions of an article.

Priorities: an application claiming priority must be filed within six months from the earliest filing date. As from the filing date of December 21, 2023, it is allowable to claim priority even within two months after the expiration date of the priority claiming period, provided that justifiable reasons are presented.

Multi-application: a multi-design application can be filed for designs not requiring examination. As from the filing date of July 1, 2014, also allowable for designs requiring substantive examination.

Series applications: not provided for.

Territory covered: the whole territory of the Republic of Korea.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to local agent):
1. Power of attorney – no legalization;
2. Drawings (1 set of ordinary paper; size 210 x 297 mm), or pictures (1 set; size: larger than 70 x 100 mm);
3. Priority document (if priority is claimed).
Note: for applications claiming priority from a design application filed in a country which has joined the WIPO Digital Access Service (DAS) and notified publicly by KIPO, it is not necessary to submit a certified copy of a priority document. But the name of the country in which the application was filed, the application number, the filing date and WIPO access code need to be specified.

Note: in principal, if the article is three-dimensional, the drawings or pictures should comprise six views of an article: a front elevational view; rear elevational view; left side elevational view; right side elevational view; top plan view; and bottom view, respectively, and a perspective view is also required. If the article is plane, the drawings or pictures should comprise a front elevational view and a rear elevational view. For both 3D and plane designs, fewer drawings may be allowed if the subject matter of creativeness and overall shape of a design are specified clearly. Drawings in 3D program files are admissible.

Electronic filing: available (reduced filing fees).

Examination: (1) with respect to designs for articles of food, clothing, textiles, printed matter, packaging, haberdashery, footwear, teaching materials, office equipment and the like, examination conducted as to formalities of application and among substantialities, only industrial applicability and whether designs can be easily created from a shape, a pattern, a color or any combination of these which is well-known in the Republic of Korea (or in foreign countries as from the filing date of July 1, 2014) (partially examined designs); (2) for all other articles, examination as to novelty, originality, and registrability; the Examiner, in case he finds no reason for rejection, renders a decision for registration without publication for public inspection.

Novelty: the following are regarded as not novel: those designs: (1) which were publicly known in Korea or in a foreign country prior to the application date; (2) which were described in a publication circulated in Korea or in any foreign country, or made available to the public through electronic telecommunication lines prior to the application date; (3) which are similar to designs referred to in (1) and (2) above. 

Exception to lack of novelty: a design is considered not to have lost novelty if a design application is filed for it in Korea within six months from the date mentioned in (1) or (2) above. From September 22, 2017, the above-mentioned six months changed to twelve months.

Examiner's rejection: period of two months (extendible with fee) to respond to Examiner's action.

Reexamination and appeal against Examiner's final rejection (or re-rejection): for applications filed on or after July 1, 2009, the same as for "patents". As from April 20, 2022, time limit on filing an appeal against rejection (or re-rejection) or a request for reexamination with an amendment is extended from thirty days to three months.

Amendments: allowable to amend any description or any drawing to the extent that the gist of the initial application remains unchanged. An amendment may be made before transmittal of a certified copy of the decision of grant or rejection of an application or at the time of request for reexamination (as from April 20, 2022, within the time limit of request for examination). As from July 1, 2014, an amendment is also allowable within thirty days from filing an appeal against final rejection.

Conversions and amendments: a design application filed prior to July 1, 1999 may be converted into a patent application or a utility model application. Also, an ordinary design application filed prior to July 1, 2005 may be converted into a similar design application. After July 1, 2005 instead of conversions, amendments are made for the ordinary design to the similar design or vice versa. On or after July 1, 2014, an ordinary design can be amended into a “related design” (instead of the similar design) or vice versa. A switch can be also made between an examined design and a partially examined design. 

Application kept secret: an application is kept secret until the design has been registered.

Ex officio reexamination after a decision for grant: for an application filed on or after April 20, 2022, when the Examiner finds obvious grounds for rejection after the decision for grant and before registration of grant of the design, he or she can cancel the decision for grant ex officio and resume examination. However, ex officio reexamination system is not applicable to international design registration applications.

Opposition: (1) with respect to  partially examined designs, any person can file an opposition against a registered design within three months from the date of publication of its registration; (2) with respect to examined designs, not provided for.

Publication: after registration, the contents of the application are published in the Official Design Gazette. An applicant may request for laying open of a pending application in order to obtain an earlier protection date.

Provisional registration: not provided for.

Registration: a design is registered and the right thereto is established upon payment of the registration fee for the first three years.

Beginning of protection: from the date of registration.

Delivery of document: KIPO issues the registration certificate in both paper and electronic format. When paying the registration fees, the applicant may choose which format, with no additional fees in case of paper format.

Duration – extension: for applications filed before July 1, 2014, the duration, which is fifteen years from the date of registration, may not be extended. For applications filed on or after July 1, 2014, the duration is twenty years from the filing date of an application. 

Annuities: the same as for “patents“.

Marking of registered goods: not compulsory, but desirable.

Text of marking: “Registered Design” with the registration number.

Renewal: not possible.

Working: the owner of a registered design is granted the exclusive right to work the registered design and designs similar thereto. “Working” means (1) in case of articles, acts of manufacturing, using, assigning, leasing, exporting, importing or offering for assignment or lease (including displaying for the purpose of assignment or lease) articles to which the design has been applied; and (2) in case of graphics, acts of manufacturing, using, providing through electric telecommunication lines or offering for the purpose of providing (including displaying for the purpose of providing) graphics, or acts of assigning, leasing, exporting, importing or offering for assignment or lease (including displaying for the purpose of assignment or lease) mediums in which graphics are stored.

Limits of design right: the same as for “patents“.

License required for exploitation: the same as for “patents“.

Right of prior user: the same as for “patents“.

Infringement: unauthorized working of a registered design constitutes infringement. Acts of manufacturing, using, assigning, leasing, or offering or displaying (for the purpose of assignment or lease) any article to be used exclusively for the manufacture of articles to which the registered design has been applied are also deemed to be infringement.

Remedies: the same as for “patents“, except (1) the probative power in a case of denial of submission of evidential material for proving infringement or calculating the loss; and (2) the probative power in a case of denial of presenting the mode of infringing act.

Opposition to registered designs: see “4. Examination” – Opposition.

Corrections: not provided for, but if a mistake is made in the registration by an official of KIPO, it may be corrected ex officio.

Changes in the list of goods: not provided for.

Expropriation: the same as for “patents“.

Licenses: the same as for “patents“. Additionally, a non-exclusive license is provided where a design is filed earlier and rejected but is being worked at the time of registration of other identical or similar design application (as from July 1, 2007).

Compulsory licenses: the same as for “patents“, except that non-exclusive license by virtue of arbitration decision, is not provided for.

Invalidation: a demand for invalidation of a registered design can be lodged at any time during the term of protection and even after the registration has lapsed.

Validation of invalidated designs: the same as for “patents“.