인테리어 디자인의 트레이드 드레스 보호 -미국 상표등록 사례를 중심으로-

Design is very important factor when products compete in these days. Also it is getting important to promote creation and to protect rights against copying and infringement. Even though Interior design is not a minor section of Design field, Interior Design exists in intellectual property law’s “negative space”. United states has developed the protection of Interior design under the trade dress concept. It is possible to protect the rights of Interior design under the Trademark Act, the Prevention of Unfair Competition Act and Industrial Design Protection Act though there’s no term which is mentioned about “trade dress” directly. The protections of Interior design between US and Korea has appeared different. According to the recent data related to Interior design, registrations under the Trademark in US have increased rapidly. They have been registered primarily under the supplemental register and service mark. In terms of the space type, majority of the registered cases is restaurants/bars/coffee shops. There’s no limitation about the number of colors/drawings and photos, and also typical formats. And the description of mark which is comprised of the overall characters of the space is the most important part for registration, the appearance of the space can be protected under only one registration. The analysis of the registered trademarks related to Interior design will give the data that can be compared with conditions of Korea.