Examples of the Article etc. to the Design, Appended Table of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Design Act

(Appended Table 1 and 2 of the former Ordinance for Enforcement of the Design Act)

March 2021
Design Examination Standards Office

When filing an application for design registration, for each design for which the design registration is requested, an applicant needs to state the article to the design, the usage of the building or graphic image to the design^*1 in the column of [Article to the Design] (Article 6 (1)(iii) of the Design Act). In making a statement in the column of [Article to the Design], until the Partial Revision described below, an applicant also needed to state the term that suitably represents the article which is provided by an Ordinance of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Article 7 of the Design Act). However, it was revised and under the Act on the Partial Revision of the Patent Act and Other Acts (Act No. 3 of May 17, 2019), an applicant now needs to state the said column “as provided by an Ordinance of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry” and, the “Appended Table 1 of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Design Act (hereinafter referred to as the “Appended Table 1")” that had listed “Classification of Articles” therein was abolished. Therefore, from April 1, 2021, an applicant will need to clearly state the article to the design, the usage of the building or graphic image to the design, the set of articles or the interior in the column of [Article to the Design] (Article 7 of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Design Act). For the statement in the column of [Article to the Design] in which an applicant clearly states the article to the design, the usage of the building or graphic image to the design, the set of articles or the interior, please refer to .

In addition, the Design Examination Standards Office is preparing the “Examples of the Article etc. to the Design” which is a table listing specific examples of the statement in the column of [Article to the Design] in which an applicant clearly states the article to the design, the usage of the building or graphic image to the design, or the interior. In order for applicants to be able to use as a reference when preparing applications to be filed for design registration, the “Examples of the Article etc. to the Design” is included as an appendix in the “Guide for making Applications and Drawings for Design Registration” after making an addition and deletion of article names according to recent design registration results, review of old terms and expressions, and change of the listing order in accordance with the previous “Appended Table 1”.

• *1 Provisions with respect to buildings and usage of graphic images are applied to applications filed on or after April 1, 2020.

It is provided in Article 8 of the Design Act that “where two or more articles, buildings or graphic images are used together and are specifically designated by an Ordinance of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (hereinafter referred to as a "Set of Articles"), if the Set of Articles is coordinated as a whole, an applicant for design registration may be filed as one design, and the applicant may obtain a design registration, for designs for the articles, buildings or graphic images that constitute the Set of Articles.”^*2.

A set of articles provided by the Ordinance of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is listed in “Appended Table of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Design Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Appended Table)” (Article 8 of the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Design Act)^*3.

• *2 Provisions with respect to buildings and graphic images are applied to applications filed on or after April 1, 2020.
• *3 “Appended Table 2” is applied only to applications filed on or before March 31, 2021 in the same manner as before.

[Last updated 31 March 2021]

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