Design Act Article 10: Related Designs

(Related Designs) Article 10: An applicant for design registration may, for a design that is similar to one design selected from among the applicant's own design registration applications or the applicant's own registered designs (hereinafter referred to as the "principal design") (such a similar design is hereinafter referred to as a "related design"), obtain design registration, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 9, Paragraph 1 or 2, provided that the application for design registration for said related design is filed on or after the filing date of the application for design registration of said principal design and before the date on which ten years have elapsed from the filing date of the application for design registration of said principal design (in the case of an application for design registration accompanied by a claim of priority under Article 43, Paragraph 1, Article 43-3, Paragraph 1 or 2 of the Patent Act as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 15, Paragraph 1, the filing date of the first application, or the date of the application deemed to be the first application pursuant to Article 4(C)(4) of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of March 20, 1883, as revised at Brussels on December 14, 1900, at Washington on June 2, 1911, at The Hague on November 6, 1925, at London on June 2, 1934, at Lisbon on October 31, 1958, and at Stockholm on July 14, 1967, or the date of the application recognized as the first application pursuant to Article 4(A)(2) of said Convention; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph). However, this does not apply if, at the time of the registration of the establishment of the design right for said related design, the design right for said principal design has been extinguished pursuant to the provisions of Article 44, Paragraph 4, a trial decision to the effect that it should be invalidated has become final and binding, or it has been waived.
(2) Among the applicant's own designs that have come to fall under Article 3, Paragraph 1, Item 1 or 2, those that are identical or similar to the principal design of the design for which the applicant intends to obtain design registration pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph are deemed not to have come to fall under Article 3, Paragraph 1, Item 1 or 2, with regard to the application of the provisions of Article 3, Paragraph 1 and 2 to the design for which the applicant intends to obtain design registration.
(3) With regard to the application of the proviso of Article 3-2 to a design for which the applicant intends to obtain design registration pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph 1, the phrase "(excluding those in which the matters listed in Article 3, Paragraph 3, Item 4 are published pursuant to the provisions of Article 20, Paragraph 4)" in the proviso of Article 3-2 is deemed to be replaced with "(limited to those in which the matters listed in Article 3, Paragraph 3, Item 4 are published pursuant to the provisions of Article 20, Paragraph 4, if the applicant requested that the earlier design registration application be kept secret pursuant to the provisions of Article 14, Paragraph 1)".
(4) For a design that is similar only to a related design for which design registration is to be obtained pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph 1, design registration may be obtained by deeming said related design to be the principal design, pursuant to the provisions of the same paragraph. The same applies to a design that is similar only to a related design for which design registration is deemed obtainable, and to a design that is similar only to a sequential related design linked to said related design.
(5) With regard to the application of the provisions of Paragraph 1 in the case of the preceding paragraph, the term "said principal design" in the same paragraph is deemed to be replaced with "the one design initially selected pertaining to said related design".
(6) If an exclusive license has been established for the design right of a principal design, design registration cannot be obtained for a related design pertaining to said principal design, notwithstanding the provisions of Paragraph 1 and 4.
(7) In the case where an application for design registration of a related design is filed, if said application for design registration is for two or more designs that each fall under a related design (meaning a related design of said basic design and a sequential related design linked to said related design) pertaining to a basic design (meaning the one design initially selected pertaining to said related design; the same applies hereinafter), the provisions of Article 9, Paragraph 1 or 2 do not apply to these designs.
(8) In the case prescribed in the preceding paragraph, among the applicant's own designs that have come to fall under Article 3, Paragraph 1, Item 1 or 2, those that are identical or similar to a related design pertaining to said basic design (excluding cases where the application for design registration of said related design has been waived, withdrawn, or dismissed, or where a decision or trial decision to the effect that the application for design registration of said related design should be refused has become final and binding, or where the design right of said related design has been extinguished pursuant to the provisions of Article 44, Paragraph 4, a trial decision to the effect that it should be invalidated has become final and binding, or it has been waived) are deemed not to have come to fall under Article 3, Paragraph 1, Item 1 or 2, with regard to the application of the provisions of Article 3, Paragraph 1 and 2 to the design for which the applicant intends to obtain design registration pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph 1.