In a case involving two registered designs subject to partial substantive examination, an opposition was filed alleging that:
- The designs were not created by the registered design owner or were jointly created with another party;
- The designs lacked sufficient creativity; and
- The designs lacked novelty.
Our Law Office successfully rebutted all of these grounds and obtained a decision dismissing the opposition, thereby maintaining the registration of both design rights.
The case is particularly significant because it addressed several complex and important issues under the Design Protection Act, including the level of creativity required for design registration, the distinction between creativity under design law and originality under copyright law, the legal standards for joint creation of a design, and the criteria for determining novelty.
A preliminary injunction proceeding concerning infringement of the design rights is currently pending in connection with this matter, and we are awaiting the court’s determination on these issues.