Source: KIPO
Date: 2011. 5. 12

- Vienna Agreement and Locarno Agreement go into effect in Korea (Apr. 17, 2011) -

The Korean Intellectual Property Office has acquired the status of an official member state by joining all four multilateral conventions on international classification of intellectual property rights administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The two international classification conventions it joined this time are ‘the Vienna Agreement Establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks’ and ‘the Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs’ which went into effect on April 17, 2011.

The Vienna Agreement designates international criteria and standards on trademarks with figures. By classifying the figurative elements into 29 classifications and 1,667 sub-classifications, it enables easy searching of figurative trademarks and can contribute to improving the quality of trademark evaluation.

The Locarno Agreement is an international standard on industrial design goods classification. By classifying goods into 32 classes and 223 subclasses, and 7,024 indications of different kinds of goods according to the function of goods, it can contribute to the design evaluation quality with its classification system which is favorable for reinforcing the concept protection of design and focusing on function.

Furthermore, while joining the Vienna Agreement and Locarno Agreement that suit the trend of globalization and uniformity of trademarks and design systems, it also allows for easy access and utilization of policies or statistical data on the classification of figurative trademarks and classification of design goods. In addition, it enables a prompt response to international trends on trademark and design by raising the objectivity of classification data.