KIPO and WIPO to Hold "Hague International Design Seminar"

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on June 18 that it will co-host the 'WIPO-KIPO Hague International Design Seminar' with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) at the Korea Intellectual Property Center.

The seminar has been organized to enhance domestic users' understanding of the overall system and application procedures of WIPO's international design application system, enabling them to utilize it more effectively. The event, which can also be attended online, will introduce an overview of the Hague system, methods for filing international design applications through the Hague system, and user-oriented Hague application strategies.

In particular, experts from WIPO member countries participating in the Hague registration system will attend the event in person to directly explain the international design application system and hold a Q&A session.

KIPO and WIPO planned the seminar as part of a personnel exchange program that has been implemented since last year. This is the third event following the WIPO International Patent and Trademark Services Seminar held in December last year, and the WIPO Dispute Mediation Services Seminar held in February this year.

The personnel exchange program is a scheme in which KIPO and WIPO dispatch personnel to each other's organizations to strengthen cooperation. In the previous first and second seminars, Andrzej Gatkowski, an attorney who was dispatched from WIPO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland to KIPO and served as an advisor on WIPO services, also participated as a presenter.

Last year, Korea ranked third in the world with 892 Hague design applications. This demonstrates the high level of interest among domestic companies in design protection. The seminar is being organized and promoted by KIPO with the aim of enhancing domestic companies' understanding of the international design system and supporting their overseas expansion through cooperation with WIPO.

In addition to the international design system, the seminar will also introduce trends in design systems in major countries such as the United States and Japan.

Shin Sangkon, Director General of the Intellectual Property Protection and Cooperation Bureau at KIPO, stated, "The Hague system is an efficient means of securing design rights in multiple countries with a single application," and added, "We will continue to actively provide information on overseas intellectual property systems so that domestic users can proactively utilize international intellectual property systems."