Partial Examination of Designs: A Route to Faster Protection

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Design shapes a product's first impression and influences purchasing decisions. In fast-moving sectors such as fashion and household goods, obtaining protection promptly can be particularly important.

Design applications follow either full or partial examination, depending on the relevant product category and statutory requirements.

Among them, the partial design examination system can be useful for companies and designers in that it allows design rights to be secured relatively quickly.

So what is the partial design examination system, and what is the difference from the full examination?

In this article, we will look at the concept of the partial design examination system, the target products, the scope of review, advantages, and precautions one by one.

This is a system in which the Korean Intellectual Property Office does not examine all registration requirements for a design registration application from the beginning, but first examines only some requirements to determine whether or not to register.

A general design registration application is reviewed to determine whether the applied design meets various registration requirements, such as novelty, creativity, and whether or not it was filed first. On the other hand, a system is in place so that items subject to partial examination can be registered relatively quickly after reviewing only some of the registration requirements.

The biggest feature of this system is that it allows quick securing of rights.

In particular, it is important to quickly secure design rights for items that change quickly and have a short product life cycle, such as clothing, fashion items, and textile products. Taking these industrial characteristics into consideration, partial-examination systems are in operation.

What you need to know here is that even under the partial examination system, review is conducted on the review matters stipulated by law. However, unlike general examination, some registration requirements are not examined at the application stage, so if problems with the requirements are discovered after registration, the validity of the registered design may be questioned through objections or invalidation trials.

Therefore, while the partial examination system has the advantage of quickly securing design rights, it is also necessary to consider rights disputes that may arise after registration.

The partial design examination system does not apply to all designs. Partial examination is available are set for products that are highly prevalent and have a relatively short product life cycle.

The products currently subject to partial examination are as follows.

For example, when applying for a design for clothing, bags, packaging containers, or accessories, it is important to first check whether it is subject to partial examination. However, since it may vary depending on the specific name and classification of the product, the classification of the product must be accurately confirmed before actual application. 

The biggest difference between general examination and partial examination is the scope of registration requirements examined at the application stage.

In a full design examination, various substantive registration requirements are reviewed, such as novelty, creativity, and whether or not the design was first filed.

On the other hand, in partial examination, the review is conducted focusing on some registration requirements stipulated by law, and through this, registration can be decided more quickly than in full examination.

Partial examination does not mean that novelty or creativity is irrelevant. For example, a design readily created from widely known shapes, patterns or colors, or incorporating a well-known trademark or copyrighted work, may be refused. Where third-party information is submitted, the examiner may review all registration requirements in light of that information. 

The main advantage of partial examination is faster registration of design rights.

In fields with a short product release cycle, such as trend-sensitive clothing or fashion supplies, if it takes a long time to acquire design rights, securing rights may be delayed when the product is actually distributed in the market.

The partial-examination system responds to these industry characteristics by allowing faster registration.

As there is an advantage to being able to register quickly, it is necessary to consider the stability of rights after registration.

As seen earlier, partial examination does not examine all registration requirements at the application stage, so there is a possibility that problems with other registration requirements may be identified after registration.

A design registered through partial examination may face a post-registration opposition. If the opposition is upheld, the registration may be canceled. 

In other words, general examination is a system that determines whether or not to register after examining various registration requirements at the application stage, while partial examination is a system that helps secure rights more quickly by examining certain registration requirements for specific products. Therefore, when using the partial design examination system, it is important to thoroughly review the possibility of registration and rights to the design in question before filing, rather than simply expecting quick registration.

In particular, even if it is subject to partial examination, it is necessary to comprehensively examine whether the product has been classified accurately, whether there is any similarity to previous designs, and whether there are any parts that may cause problems in the future rights exercise process.

Design rights do not end with registration once, but are a right to protect actual businesses and products, so it is important to take a strategic approach from the first application.

Therefore, if you are preparing to register a design, reviewing the appropriate review method and registration possibilities for the design with an expert may help secure more stable rights.