The ID5 partners are pleased to invite user representatives from the five jurisdictions to exchange on the latest developments of the partner offices, the ID5 collaboration and projects and any current issues relating to design protection. The ID5 User Session will take place in the Prince Hakone Ashinoko on 13 February 2025.

The 2023 ID5 statistics have just been published to exchange information between the ID5 offices. The report contains statistics from the five partner offices on overall filing numbers, the number of registrations and performance indicators, such as the average time for a grant, registration or issuance. International design application data is also included for the five ID5 partners, together with volumes of priority certificates exchanged through the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Digital Access Service. The virtual tables of the 2023 statistics are also available to view information on volumes, shares of filings from other ID5 offices and beyond, top Locarno classes and average office response times. For more information, please visit the ID5 website.

You can opt to file your design with deferment. This means your design would remain a secret for a designated period. But do all ID5 offices grant this possibility? For how long? What are the risks and benefits of such a system? We invite you to look at your options in the five ID5 jurisdictions. You can read the extended study and view the comparative charts to decide if deferment is right for your design application.

The Japan Patent Office hosted the ID5 Midterm meeting and the ID5 Ad-Hoc Hague Workshop on 24 - 26 April at the headquarters of the JPO in Tokyo. The ID5 Partners welcomed the re-vamped ID5 website and the launch of the e-learning platform for SMEs on graphical representation. They also discussed many new and ongoing initiatives in the realm of digital designs, such as digital design protection in the metaverse, developments in laws and IT tools and the possibility of an ID5-wide registered design indication “(D)”. The partners will update some existing ID5 studies and soon share their overall statistics for 2023. They also held a two-day workshop discussing examination practices of international applications filed with WIPO via the Hague route, a timely and particularly useful dialogue following China’s accession in 2022. The event proved to be a valuable exchange clarifying practices, identifying areas for additional focus for the Partners and WIPO, and resulting in a greater understanding among the five largest design offices.

The ID5 partners are pleased to announce the launch of their e-learning platform. The published infographics give suggestions for creating representations of designs when registering with the five partner offices. The platform targets individuals and small- and medium-sized enterprises with little experience in design registration. The platform introduces the options for graphical representation when filing a design application and provides examples of the various options as infographics. These examples are in line with the requirements outlined in the catalogue of the view and drawing requirements for designs, without being too technical. Some links to the guidelines of the ID5 offices are also available. For further reading, the user can refer to the catalogue or the upcoming user guide planned for publication at the end of 2024.

The 2022 statistics on designs for information exchange between the ID5 offices have been published. The report contains statistical information from the five partner offices on overall filing numbers, number of registrations, number of design examiners and performance indicators. For the first time, the 2023 statistics have also been published as virtual tables. The ID5 partners invite you to check these interactive charts for detailed information on volumes, shares of filings from other ID5 offices and beyond, and the top Locarno classes applied for. Users can also find useful information on average office response times, for example, first action after receipt or grant of registration. For more information, please visit the ID5 website page on statistics.

The ID5 partners met in Incheon, South Korea for the 2023 ID5 Annual Meeting hosted by KIPO. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was present at the meetings as an observer. During the annual meeting on 14 September, the Partners adopted a joint statement to promote women’s participation in the industrial design system, in line with WIPO’s ‘Women and IP’ initiative. Two projects were closed: ‘Recommended design practices’ led by the JPO and the USPTO and ‘Study of priority document exchange’ led by the USPTO and the CNIPA. In the context of this latter project a User Guide was published on the Partners’ practices using WIPO DAS. This Guide and summary chart details the procedures of the ID5 offices for priority document exchange, and provides useful information on authorisation procedures, application formats, common causes of failed transmissions, legal prohibitions, typical timelines for depositing, among other things. The ID5 Partners also adopted two new initiatives led by the CNIPA, KIPO and the USPTO to compare examination practices for international applications filed via the Hague system. The ID5 user session of 15 September was attended by over 70 users from the five jurisdictions, both in person and online. The ID5 Partners were asked by users for further guidance on virtual goods and the metaverse and to provide a coordinated approach to IP rights resulting from digital technologies. The JPO took over as host and secretariat of the groups in 2024.