Patent Act Provisions on Design Patent to Change to Broaden the Scope of Protection for Industrial Design.

The provisions of the Patent Act with respect to design patent are to be substantially revised.  TIPO plans to broaden the scope of subject matters of industrial design patent to cover, among others, partial design, derivative design, group design, icons and graphical user interface (GUI).

 

According to the current Patent Act, for a creation to be protected as a design patent, that creation must be the external shape, pattern, color or the combination thereof of an integrated article.  A partial imitation of the various novel characteristics incorporated in a design patent will not be held infringing upon the design patent.  That is, design patent does not provide comprehensive protection.

 

The numbers of applications filed for invention patent and utility model both have increased in recent years.  In contrast, the number of applications for design patent has been decreasing.  Outbound relocation of the conventional businesses is held to be the main reason accounting for the decline as the conventional businesses including toy businesses and furniture businesses are the major cradles of industrial designs. 

 

Broadening the protection of product external design and adopting novel industrial design concept both will operate to boost the creation of innovative scientific products and intellectual cultural designs and thereby nurture the development of the industrial design industry.  (2006.06)

/EMA