The USPTO hosted the 2025 ID5 Annual Meeting in Alexandria on 24-25 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.
