부정경쟁방지법에 의한 상품형태의 보호

The present age is also known as the period of design management. This is due to the importance of design for companies and consumers alike. The greater part of consumers consider the design of a product to be as equally important a factor as that of quality or price. Because a design, due to its special quality of being expressed in the exterior of a product, can be easily copies even as it plays an important role in the choice of consumers. However, such acts of copying discourages the creative urge and prevents the introduction of new and convenient products. The best solution for preventing the copying of designs lies in the establishment of an "early rights" for designs. But registering copy rights for designs takes a long time. In short, the current design protection law has not been able to operate adequately against the copying and misappropriation of designs. Therefore, there had been calls for improving the related laws so that non-registered designs can be protected. In response to such a need, in 2004, while amending the "Unfair Competition Prevention and Business Trade Secret Protection Act," article 2. 1. ⒤[ja] calling for the prevention of copying of the exterior form of a product was introduced. Therefore, detailed examination of the possibility of design protection through article 2. 1. ⒤[ja] enactment will be undertaken in order to provide its evaluation as well as means of reform.