A design refers to a shape, pattern, color, or combination of an article (including parts of an article, fonts, and images), which invokes a sense of beauty through visual perception, and protects the appearance of the article (or parts of the article).

A person who intends to register a design shall file an application for design registration, stating the following matters, with the Commissioner of the KIPO.
An application for design registration shall be accompanied by a drawing depicting the following matters with respect to each design.

• ■ The product or the category of products in relation to which design is to be used
• ■ A description of the design and the features of the creation
• ■ The serial number of each design (applicable to applications for registration of multiple designs)

An applicant for design registration may submit a photograph or a specimen of the design in lieu of drawings.

Designs that can be registered for the Partial-Substantive Examination System (PSES) are foodstuffs (Class 1), clothing and haberdashery (Class 2), travel goods (Class 3), textile piece goods, artificial and natural sheet materials (Class 5), packages (Class 9), articles of adornment (Class 11), and stationery and office equipment, artists' and teaching materials (Class 19) as Locarno Classifications among the categories of goods.

The similarity of design is judged only between identical or similar products. A design right arises when the grant of the rights is registered, and perpetuates until the 20th anniversary of the filing date of the relevant application of design registration.