Intellectual property information

5th year revision of the Design Act: Relaxation of requirements for application procedures for exceptions to loss of novelty

From January 6, the requirements for applying the exceptions to loss of novelty will be relaxed. See below for details.
 
 
Applicable to:Design applications filed after January 6, 1
Details of relaxation: Regarding the certificate for application of the provisions of Article 4, Paragraph XNUMX, for designs that have been made public due to the act of a person who has the right to receive a design registration,By proving the act of publication on the earliest date, the exceptions to the loss of novelty will apply to identical or similar designs published after that date.*Proof of publication will not be required from the second time onwards. 
(“Act to partially amend the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, etc.” promulgated on June 5, 6)

Source: Design Examination Standards Office, Design Division, First Department, Patent Office, November 5, 11
Procedures for applying exceptions to the loss of novelty of a design (procedures when the design is made public before filing)

*“Publication date” of published designs
・If it becomes publicly known in a foreign country, the date converted to Japan time will be used for judgment.
・If multiple publications are published on the earliest date, it does not matter whether they are published before or after.

Disclosures made by third parties are exempt.However, if it is clear that a third party has made the disclosure public based on the disclosure act of the person who has the right to receive the design registration, the exceptions will also apply to that act.

Example 1: A person sells and publishes a product, and a third party who obtains the product posts the product on a website.
Example 2: You exhibited your product at a trade show and made it public, and the information about your product was published in a newspaper.
Example 3: The product was delivered to a wholesaler and published, and then sold by a retailer through the wholesaler.
Example 4: A person posts and publishes a product on their website, and a third party who views it posts it on SNS.

*About public designs
If there are any identifiable parts or accessories in the article related to the published design described in the certification document, these will also be treated as certified.
 
Examples where exceptions to loss of novelty are not recognized due to dissimilarity to the published design stated in the certificate

Since B and D are not similar to the published design, a separate "certificate" must be submitted. *However, if Example 1 is a design application for the part related to the "gear" in A, the "gear" in B is similar to A, so no certification is required.

 

Related article

Top