Revision of the Design Law
The design law will be revised to strengthen intellectual property rights and to simplify their acquisition to achieve greater international competitive strength. The revision also intended to control the damage caused by the global spread of copies by making it more difficult to import, export and distribute them.
The design law has not been revised much since 1999. This time, it will be revised based on the opinions expressed by designers and intellectual property experts after the last revision was put into force.
2. Outline of the Revision
For the purposes mentioned above, following revision will be made for design law:
(1) The term of the design right will be extended from current term of 15 years to 20 years.
(2) For appliances such as computers, mobile phones, etc. only the designs that appear on initial screens are subject to protection under the current law. Under the revised law, designs that appear after the initial screens will also be subject to protection.
(3) It will be clearly stated in the provisions that similarity is to be evaluated based on the aesthetic effect of the design on the consumer’s and trader’s visual sense.
(4) The restrictions on the filing date for applications for related designs and partial designs will be relaxed.
Currently, related design applications must be filed on the same day as the principle design application. The revision will permit the applicant to file a related design application after the principle design application has been filed, provided that the principle design has not yet been registered and published.
Currently, an application for a partial design that originates from a design previously filed by the same applicant is rejected. The revision will permit the registration of a later-filed partial design, if both applications are filed by the same applicant.
(5) Currently, a demand that a design be kept secret must be filed at the time of filing the application. The revision will permit the applicant to demand that the design be kept secret any time before the Examiner issues a decision to register the design.
(6) Currently, to obtain an exception to lack of novelty of design, the applicant must submit the documents proving that the lack of novelty is caused by the applicant himself within 14 days following the filing date of the application. This due date will be extended to 30 days.
(7) The exporting of copied articles will be an infringement of the design right.
(8) Possession of copies for distribution will be an infringement of the design right.
(9) The maximum prison term for violating the design rights will be extended from five years to ten years. The maximum fine will be increased from 3,000,000 yen to 10,000,000 yen. Penalties for corporate violators will be increased from 150 million yen to 300 million yen.
In addition, the penalties for “the act of copying the configuration of an article” set out in the Unfair Competition Prevention Law will be increased from a maximum of three years in prison and a 3,000,000 yen of fine to a maximum of five years in prison and a 5,000,000 yen of fine.