Designs in Augmented and Virtual Reality Also Eligible for Intellectual Property Registration and Protection

Image of a smart bracelet utilizing holographic design. Source=cicret.com

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] A path has opened for designs in augmented and virtual reality, which have no physical form, to be registered and protected as intellectual property.

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office on the 25th, the 'Design Protection Act Amendment' for protecting virtual designs was passed in the National Assembly the day before.

Virtual designs combine visually perceived shapes and colors, generally referring to user interfaces, icons, graphic images, and the like.

However, until now, virtual designs projected onto external walls or spaces could not be protected as rights. This was because the Design Protection Act only allowed designs expressed on tangible goods to be registered, making it difficult to protect virtual designs created using new technologies as intellectual property.

In contrast, the amendment to the Design Protection Act resolves these institutional limitations, allowing virtual designs created using digital technology to be registered and protected as intellectual property rights.

Especially considering the recent expansion of the digital economy and the increase in new technology product launches such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), the significance of the Design Protection Act amendment is considerable.

As the number of new technology product launches increases, the importance of related designs is highlighted, and the industrial scale grows accordingly. Given this situation, there is analysis that the amendment to the Design Protection Act will significantly enhance the digital competitiveness of domestic companies.

Moreover, it is meaningful as the first legislation (law amendment) supporting the digital economy in the field of intellectual property.

The amendment is significant in that it newly defines virtual designs to protect the designs themselves and expands the concept of design use, which had been recognized only offline, to include online transmission of virtual designs as an act of use (implementation).

The definition of virtual designs specifies that 'virtual images' refer to figures, symbols, etc., expressed by digital technology or electronic means, which are used for device operation or function execution (Design Protection Act Amendment Article 2, Paragraph 2-2).

Mok Seong-ho, Director of the Trademark and Design Examination Bureau at the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said, “As the speed of digital transformation accelerates, the competition among countries to secure new technologies is also intensifying. At this point, the legal protection of virtual designs can become a cornerstone for establishing a digital intellectual property system and developing the digital design industry.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.