Effect of Design Right
Designs protectable under the Design Act shall mean the shape or form of an article, which creates an aesthetic impression through the eye.
Such designs are protected through granting exclusive rights to the design right holders under the Design Act.
That is, a design right holder is entitled to exclusively work its registered design and designs similar thereto, and restrict any third parties’ unauthorized working of the design. It should be noted that not only a design identical with its own registered design but also designs similar thereto are protected under the Act.
We can say designs are deemed similar when any of the following three conditions are met as a result of comprehensive analysis in consideration of both the article to the design and the form thereof.
(1) identical article with similar form
(2) similar article with identical form
(3) similar article with similar form