Korea Intellectual Property Office visits Fursys to boost furniture design

The Korea Intellectual Property Office said it visited the headquarters of Fursys Group in Songpa-gu, Seoul, to discuss measures for enhancing the competitiveness of the local furniture industry through stronger design protection.

Officials toured the company's design research center and met with designers to hear about development difficulties and suggestions for regulatory improvements. They outlined recent changes to the design system, including an expanded scope for exceptions to loss of novelty claims, simplified application requirements, a right-to-claim transfer system for legitimate rights holders and relaxed standards for recognizing names in partial design registrations.

Fursys Group, which owns brands such as Fursys, Illoom, Sidiz and Deskor, has expanded into international markets by leveraging accumulated design capabilities and technology development.

"We will further strengthen the protection and utilization basis for design rights so that K-furniture, following K-content and K-beauty, can lead the global market," said Jeong Yeon-woo, vice commissioner of the Korea Intellectual Property Office.

Jeong added that the agency plans to continue visiting industrial sites to reflect corporate voices in policy and establish a design protection system that companies can feel.