Tsubame IP Law Firm

In view of the revision on the Design Act that came into force from April 1, 2020 in Japan, related designs under the Japanese Design Act have been expanded.

In recent years, as companies around the world are trying to strengthen their competitiveness not only by technology but also by their designs, a movement to build a unique world view and increase the added value of products by using a consistent design concept common to their products, is accelerating. This is based on a consistent design concept, and is to evolve the design over a long term based on market trends and other factors.

The Related Design System was established for the purpose of protecting the variations of designs created by such design activities.

Under the old Design Act, when multiple similar designs are filed, in principle, only the previously filed design can be registered as a design. While, as many of the designs are created in variations, so it is this related design system that was exceptionally established for the purpose of strengthening the protection of the rights of the design holders.

Under this system, the same applicant can register one of the similar designs as the main design and the other as the related designs.

However, it was pointed out that the conventional related design system cannot sufficiently protect the designs of groups of products.

Before the revision on the Design Act,
(1) Only designs application filed before the publication date of the design gazette of the main design could be registered as a related design.
(2) Registration was not permitted for designs that are similar only to the related designs (not the main design).

In this revision,
(1) The filing period for related designs shall be until 10 years after the original design is filed. This enable the applicant to file related design applications in a long term.
(2) Even for a design that is similar only to the related design, the related design can be regarded as the main design and the filed design can be registered as a design pursuant to the provisions of the same paragraph.

As described above, this　revision on the Japanese Design Act has expanded the protection of related designs and made it more convenient for those who are going to file similar designs during a long term.

Tsubame Patent Attorney Firm (The Asia Patent Alliance) has abundant experience and achievement in design application and registration procedures from overseas not only in Japan but also in China and South Korea. Using our knowledge, expertise, and international network in Asian countries, we will sincerely and effectively support your application till you achieve the goal.
When you are considering the design registration accompanying this revision, we are the right choice.

Further, we assist you with the filing of your patents, utility models and trademarks as well as with rights management in Japan, China and Korea. Please feel free to contact us.