Companies Increasing Holding Periods with a 'Design Emphasis'... 1.8 Years Longer Over the Past Decade

The duration of design rights held by applicants is becoming longer. This is interpreted as a phenomenon reflecting the increasing value and utilization of design rights. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] As the importance of design rights is highlighted and more companies utilize them as business assets, the duration of design rights ownership is also lengthening.

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) on the 12th, the average maintenance period of design rights as of last year was 6.9 years, setting a record for the longest period ever. Compared to the average of 5.1 years in 2010, the maintenance period has increased by 1.8 years.

By applicant type, as of last year, public enterprises maintained design rights for an average of 14.4 years, recording the longest period, followed by large corporations at 7.1 years, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at 7 years, and individuals and universities each at 6.2 years. Compared to 10 years ago, large corporations extended their maintenance period by 2.5 years, and SMEs by 1.9 years.

Maintaining design rights involves considerable burdens such as maintenance costs. Nevertheless, the Korean Intellectual Property Office explains that the extension of design rights ownership periods by large corporations and SMEs is a positive signal for the domestic economy and the design industry.

Furthermore, KIPO notes that behind the lengthening maintenance periods is the increasing economic value of designs, and companies’ proactive trend to register and hold design rights in advance reflecting this value is becoming prominent.

For example, as the AR Glasses (Augmented Reality Glasses) products and market are expected to grow significantly starting this year, major global companies such as Google and Samsung have already registered and held related designs for 5 to 6 years, which can be interpreted in the same context.

Based on this, KIPO anticipates that in the current era where contactless and non-face-to-face cultures are becoming global trends, companies’ proactive registration and holding of designs related to new industries such as telemedicine, service robots, and touchless designs will become more active.

Moon Sam-seop, Director of the Trademark and Design Examination Bureau at KIPO, said, “KIPO plans to encourage the creation of high-quality design rights related to untact and digital industries to overcome the economic crisis,” adding, “We will also continuously improve related laws and systems so that the design rights held by companies can be utilized and protected to benefit companies and the industrial sector.”