The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), and the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) rencently held the “Korea–China–Japan Design Forum” together at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul.

At this year’s forum, design experts from the IP offices in Korea, China, and Japan discussed ways of solving major issues related to design protection. This annual forum, currently in its fifth year, is hosted in alternation by each of its three member countries. In 2012, the forum was held in Tokyo, and last year’s forum took place in Wuxi, China.

This year’s forum was especially significant in that it was held just a few days before the implementation of the accession to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, as well as because the fully amended Design Protection Act, which recently underwent its largest overhaul since first being enacted in 1961, is scheduled to soon take effect.

In this year’s forum — the theme of which was “Design, Beyond Protection” — diverse issues pertaining to legal protection for design rights were discussed. In addition, the forum dealt with the popularization of 3-D printers and other technological movements currently shaping the design industries of the three East Asian countries, and it introduced methods for sharing and utilizing designs for the purpose of supporting developing countries and reviving local Korean industries.

“It is my hope that the forum will contribute in promoting awareness on the importance of design rights,” said KIPO commissioner Kim Youngmin. “KIPO will vitalize Korea’s creative economy by stimulating design creation and protecting the interests of designers.”