The USPTO hosted the 2025 ID5 Annual Meeting in Alexandria on 23-24 October, with John Squires, the recently inaugurated head of the USPTO opening the event. The Partners published an overview on how each ID5 office examines novelty, featuring practical examples of different articles, animated graphical user interfaces (GUIs), component designs and partial designs. This report will be a useful reference for users and intellectual property (IP) offices alike. Two new projects were adopted on the Hague system: an inter-office exchange led by the MOIP (Ministry of Intellectual Property, Republic of Korea, formerly known as KIPO) and the USPTO on practices/discrepancies, refusals and examination divergences of international design applications under the Hague system, deepening mutual understanding and identifying harmonization paths. The “Critical Requirements for International Design Applications” project led by the CNIPA will develop a user guide to reduce refusals, improve quality, and promote consistency. It will support applicants in making successful Hague applications by highlighting cases accepted by all five offices. At an international roundtable preceding the meeting hosted by the USPTO, some ID5 partners such as the EUIPO, JPO and the USPTO exchanged with the private sector on how AI developments can impact the protection of design rights. The offices discussed the possible requirements of disclosing AI support in design development and whether AI can be an inventor. The representatives called on IP offices to present a harmonised approach and provide clarity on the requirements imposed on them, while considering the difficulties of collecting detailed evidence on the creative process. At the ID5 User Sessions, which brought together representatives of the five jurisdictions, the partners discussed the challenges of AI generated designs, issues with enforcement, saturation of prior art and the inflexibility of the classification system.

All users of the ID5 jurisdictions are cordially invited to attend the ID5 user session on 24 October at the USPTO Headquarters in Alexandria, USA. The partner offices will share updates on their latest activities and discuss practices for examining design applications. Users may also raise and exchange on other relevant topics in a casual setting. Additionally, On the 22 of October ID5 offices and users will gather at the USPTO for an International Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence and Industrial Designs. This event will explore the legal and policy questions of AI as it specifically relates to industrial design including of inventorship/creatorship in AI-generated industrial designs. Please contact your respective IP office for further details on the agenda and registration details.

The comparative Statistical Data for the calendar year 2024 has been made available on the ID5 website. Users are invited to consult the PDF for detailed statistical data, or view the interactive Power BI file for quick data on applications and registration broken down by jurisdiction, priority claims, and the waiting times to evaluate and register designs.

The USPTO welcomed the Partner offices for the 2025 Midterm Meeting in La Jolla, California, on 14-15 and 17 May 2025. In addition to taking stock of the progress of joint projects, the Partners had extensive discussions on two new project proposals related to the Hague system. WIPO presented on the latest evolution of the Hague system and the Global ID project. WIPO also gave an overview of the working group discussions to be sent to plenary in 2026, including reflections on multiple class applications and new image formats. In addition to discussing ID5 projects, the Partners held their annual New Technologies Exchange and discussed the latest developments in IT tools used for design examination and recent legislative changes. Most offices reported on their efforts to perfect the accuracy of prior art search capabilities with the use of AI (CNIPA, JPO, KIPO), provide more user-friendly application interfaces (USPTO) and, develop automatization and search tools (EUIPO). Legislative changes were highlighted by EUIPO with the entry into force of Phase 1 of the EU design reform, which updated definitions, terminology, and fees. KIPO informed the Partners of planned revisions to the partial examination system. Representatives of the five jurisdictions gathered at the ID5 User Session, where Users debated new types of designs. Chinese users brought interesting examples of designs from the gaming industry. EU users reported on the EU design reform, which now explicitly protects virtual designs without the need to show physical form. Japanese users stressed the benefits of having a system not limiting the number of views. Korean users warned of the dangers of losing novelty by filing for trademark protection prior to design protection, and the complexities of a recent filing of a human face for avatars. US users voiced concerns over filing requirements of designs being fixed on a physical form.

Following the great interest for the ID5 collaboration at last year’s ID5 Annual Meeting, the 2025 host USPTO is organising a User Session at the 2025 Midterm meeting. The event will be opened by USPTO’s Acting Director Coke Stewart. This platform will provide excellent opportunity for users of the five jurisdictions to share their experiences in filing digital design in offices around the world and discuss how technical advances affect the relationship between product and the design in general. Users are welcome to join the ID5 offices at the Sheraton La Jolla, in La Jolla, California on 17 May 2025 at 9:00.

Thanks to the concerted efforts of the ID5 Offices, an informative User Guide for View and Drawing Requirements of Designs has been officially published. This User Guide is a simplified version of the Catalogue of the view and drawing requirements for designs. It compiles the requirements for views in the ID5 Offices, using a structured combination of textual explanations and images to outline each Office's requirements for design representations. Key elements include general requirements such as forms, titles and background of views, as well as specific requirements for designs of product in sets, graphical user interface (GUI) and products with movement. This resource aims to provide a clear overview of the different requirements and guidance to users on preparing and submitting views when seeking design protection within the jurisdictions of ID5 Offices.

This project aims to share information on challenges facing design protection system in dealing with expanding use of new technologies such as AIs and Metaverse in each country or region under the ID5 office jurisdiction and to provide beneficial supporting materials to help each ID5 office plan their design system.