Korea ranked third in the number of international industrial design applications filed in 2016 through the World Intellectual Property Organization's Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs.

Korea secured the number three spot on the rankings with 1,882 industrial designs, according to WIPO's data for 2016. This was a 46.8 percent jump compared to the 1,282 designs filed by Korea in 2015.

Germany was first on the list in 2016 with 3,917 designs, followed by Switzerland in second place with 2,555 designs.

The Hague System is an international system for managing industrial designs that allows countries to register up to 100 designs in over 66 territories by filing one single international application. Designs may include anything from furnishings, communication equipment, means of transport, to clocks and watches. In 2016, a total of 18,716 designs were registered by some 84 countries around the world.

Of the 1,882 designs filed by Korea, 862 were registered by Samsung Electronics and 728 by LG Electronics. These companies ranked second and third, respectively, on the Top 10 list for number of designs submitted by individual firms. The Dutch furniture company Fonkel rose to the top of this list, with a total of 953 designs registered.

"It's meaningful that Korea has reached the number three spot on the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs, just three years after adopting the system," said Director General of the Trademark and Design Examination Bureau Choi Gyu-wan, part of the Korean Intellectual Property Office. "We will make sure to further promote the system so that medium-sized enterprises, as well as conglomerates, can take advantage of the international system for managing industrial designs."



By Lee Hana
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: WIPO
hlee10@korea.kr