스마트폰 액세서리와 관련한 디자인 주요 판례 평석

The article reviews the major Cases related to smartphone accessories among the Supreme Court rulings handed down in the field of design. The main issues of contention are whether to recognize the unity of the design, especially when applying for registration of a partial design, among the principles of 1 design 1 application stipulated in Article 40 paragraph 1 of the Desing Protection Act, and whether to recognize the non-creative easiness under Article 33 paragraph 2 of the same Act. In order to determine whether the application for 1 design registration of two or more physically separated partial designs is recognized, the contents of “meaning of 1 design” and “unity of product”, “unity of part design” as requirements for establishment were reviewed. In addition, to determine whether the non-creative easiness is recognized, “definition of design that is easy to create” and “criteria for judging of non-creative easiness” were reviewed, and “judgment of similarity of desing” that was judged from the original trial and related to non-creative easiness was also reviewed. This article consists of a comprehensive review of the theoretical definition of the method of judgment, the method of judgment under the precedent law, and the criteria for design review in practice, and aims to help understand the subject judgment.