남북한디자인법의 통합모델 연구

Abstract

The two Koreas, South Korea and North Korea have developed quite different frameworks in legal, social, economic and cultural aspects more than a half century. In particular, North Korea has maintained traditional socialism. Recently, however, the interests in developing economical cooperation between the two Koreas have increased more than ever in the past. Furthermore, as a way of solving political and military tensions between two countries, it is an effective and recommendable method to develop economic relations, which contribute to the interests of both countries. Given the extension and development of economic trade between the two Koreas, a system for the protection of intellectual property became mandatory. For the preparation of a possible integration model of design protection systems between South and North Korea, it is very helpful to review the experiences during the enlargement of the EU and the unification of Germany. According to the unitary character of the Community Design, the accession of a new Member State to the EU logically leads to the extension of Community Designprotection to the territory of new Member States. Under the Extension of Germany, all designs of West and East Germany were extended to the whole of Germany. However, due to the principle of territoriality, in accordance with which intellectual property rights have been protected traditionally, there would be a conflict of design rights between South and North Korea. A possible integration model for South and North Korea should be prepared in the direction of minimizing such a conflict and avoiding any side effects from the integration process. Mutual recognition, as a method of creating assimilation of law, could be of great help, especially in the first stage of harmonization of laws, in that there is no standard defined and thus any party does not have to change anything in its national legislation. However, we should note that each country still has different standards than the other country, and thus these differences may work as potential elements causing disputes between two countries. In addition, the mutual recognition would result in the partitioning of the possible Korean common market. Consequently, it is advisable to concentrate on the discussion of a harmonization or integration of the two Koreas’ design protection systems rather than the negotiation of mutual recognition. As main factors, which should be considered for an integration model of South and North Korean design protection systems, there are matters such as designs protected, requirements for design registration, proceedings in design disputes such as cancellation, invalidation or infringement action, etc. Further, apossible integration model for design protection system should be discussed systematically for the purpose of integrating the whole system for the intellectual properties including patent, trademark, design right and copyright based on mutual understanding by the two parties. The advice that one of the most important aspects in the preparatory stage is the creation of sufficient awareness of the problems so as to prepare oneself for the future has been advocated in the process of the enlargement of the EU. This advice should be applied for Korea as well.