JPO Announces Application Trends for Newly Protected Designs under the Revised Design Act
Aya TAKIZAWA

By a revision of the Japanese Design Act, the scope of design protection in Japan expanded to graphic images, architectural structures and interiors as of April 1, 2020. Since then, the status of design applications for such newly protected designs have been of high interest for many domestic and foreign entities. In response to this interest, the JPO recently published statistics on the number of design applications and registrations filed directly with the JPO by February 1, 2023 for graphic images, architectural structures and interiors, excluding Hague international design applications.

<Number of applications and registrations (statistics as of February 1, 2023)>

1. Number of applications

・Graphic images                    3,792

・Architectural structures　 987

・Interiors                                 730

2. Number of registrations

・Graphic images                    2,086

・Architectural structures     609

・Interiors                                 389

(Source:https://www.jpo.go.jp/system/design/gaiyo/seidogaiyo/document/isyou_kaisei_2019/shutsugan-jokyo.pdf)

The number of design applications filed with the JPO has remained at around 30,000 annually but has been increasing slightly over the past few years. The Japanese design system has become more user-friendly with the expansion of the scope of protection to new designs as mentioned above. Other law revisions are also expected to come in the near future, including the relaxation of procedural requirements for exemption to lack of novelty. We will keep an eye on the future developments of the Japanese design system.