Patent Office Increases Accuracy in Examining Non-Traditional Trademarks Such as 3D, Sound, and Color

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) has revised the trademark examination guidelines to improve the accuracy of examining non-traditional trademarks such as three-dimensional, sound, and color marks.

According to KIPO on the 5th, the revised examination guidelines reflect the recent increase in cases where trade dress is applied for and registered as corporate trademarks, and have been applied since the 1st of this month.

Trade dress refers to the overall image and comprehensive appearance of a product that distinguishes it from other goods or services, encompassing concepts such as the product's size, shape, color (or combination of colors), texture, design, and layout.

First, with the revision of the non-traditional trademark examination guidelines, KIPO has established detailed criteria to protect the overall appearance of business locations that sell products or provide services, such as the interior and exterior of buildings, when recognized as a trademark of a specific person.

Through this, applicants can distinguish between solid lines (parts to be protected) and dotted lines (parts excluded from protection) of the building's interior and exterior in the application, and if the characteristics of three-dimensional trademarks and position trademarks can be expressed with a single drawing, the application becomes possible.

Additionally, the scope of position trademarks is expanded from the current "shapes or designs used at a specific location on a product that have acquired distinctiveness" to include "colors used at a specific location that have acquired distinctiveness," allowing colors to be protected as position trademarks. This applies when the use at a specific location on the product has acquired the function of indicating the source of the product.

Moon Sam-seop, Director of the Trademark and Design Examination Bureau at KIPO, stated, "The revision of the examination guidelines is expected to harmonize the non-traditional trademark examination standards with those of advanced countries and enhance convenience for applicants." He added, "We will strive to further strengthen the protection of trade dress, which has recently emerged as a key factor in product competitiveness."

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