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영어

A move to revise the Korean Industrial Design Protection Act(KIDPA) is in the spotlight. Korean Intellectual Property Office(KIPO) integrated the agreement implementation bill to be a member of so-called the New Hague Agreement into the amended bill which introduced to the National Assembly in 2010 but suspended, and has issued advanced notice of this one bill in 2011. One of the major issues in this bill is the definition of design which amended, in order to expand the protection scope of 2D design, by defining the items classified and illustrated by Locarno agreement such as graphic symbols, get-up, logos, comic figure, surface ornamentation etc. as an ”article”. Another major issues is an exception clause regarding the single application for single design which admit an application for a same configuration to be applicable to different articles, besides the current multiple design system. The bill also comprised Related Design for similar designs as well as user-friendly clauses like those of European Community Design Regulation(CDR). The revised act is due to KIPO's endeavor to change the current act familiar to users under the New Hague Agreement. But amended rules cause considerable concern and argument because they are conflict with a basic fundamental principle of Korean Design Protection Act under which design is inseparable from the article to which it is embodied and cannot exist alone merely as a scheme of surface ornamentation etc. Also CDR is not familiar to KIDPA based on substantive examination system. This essay pointed out issues from rule logic point of view. However, the international application procedures under the New Hague Agreement are excluded since there is no controversial issue except time to join this agreement.