CREATION OF HIGH-QUALITY DESIGNS WILL BE ENCOURAGED

Under the old regulations the degree of creativity required was comparatively low, so a great many design rights were established whose scope bordered on each other. For this reason, it was necessary to file defensively applications for designs bordering on one’s own design in order to make sure the created design was securely protected. In order to turn the talent that went into the filing of these defensive applications toward the creation of designs of high quality and maintain Japanese industry’s competitive position in the world market, the standard for the creative element will now be raised.
Specifically, the old standard of review required a consideration of whether or not the design under examination could have been easily created from a motif or design widely known in Japan. By contrast, the new stricter standard will require a consideration of whether or not the design under examination could have been easily created from a motif or design widely known in either Japan or a foreign country.
This revision means that designs involving merely substituting by ordinary methods one portion of a publicly known design for another publicly known design, or simply rearranging the layout of a publicly known design, will not be eligible for a design registration.