In the Examination Guidelines revision of December, 2023, the examination of partial design applications has been introduced. Based on this revision, the differences of examination between the partial design application and the whole design application are explained as below. 1. Requirements for submission of application documents

(1) Name of product

To apply for a partial design patent, the product name shall specify the part to be claimed and the whole product to which it belongs, such as "Door of Car", "Camera of Mobile Phone" and "Carving on the seat back ".

(2) Pictures or photos of partial design

Views of the whole product shall be submitted, and the part to be claimed shall be indicated in solid lines by combining dotted lines or by other means.

The view of the whole product should clearly show the partial design of the part of product to be claimed, as well as the position and proportion relationship of the part located in the whole product.

When the part to be claimed is indicated in solid lines by combining the dotted lines, the solid lines indicate the part to be claimed, and the dotted lines indicates disclaimed parts. Other ways can also be used to indicate the part to be claimed, such as covering the part that is not intended to be claimed with a translucent layer in a single color. Where there are no clear boundaries between the part to be claimed and disclaimed parts, boundaries shall be indicated by dash-dotted lines.

2. Regarding the Brief description

Where the partial design is expressed by means other than the combination of solid lines and dotted lines, the part to be claimed shall be clearly indicated in the Brief description. If necessary, it shall be indicated in the Brief description that the boundaries between the part to be claimed and disclaimed parts are indicated by dash-dotted lines. If necessary, the use of the partial design to be claimed shall be indicated in the Brief description, and the use of the partial design shall correspond to the use embodied in the product name. The picture or photograph designated to best show the essential elements of the design should include the partial design to be claimed. 3. Unpatentable situations for partial design

(1) Partial design that cannot form a relatively independent area or relatively complete design elements on the product is unpatentable, for example, the turning lines on the handle of a water cup, an irregular part of a randomly cut eyeglass lens.

(2) Partial design that is patterns or combination of patterns and colors on the surface of the product is unpatentable, for example, patterns on the surface of motorcycles.

4. Case about one design application

Two or more designs of parts of the same product without connection relationship can be regarded as one design if they are related in terms of function or design style and form a specific visual effect. For example, the design of two legs of glasses, or the design of four corners of mobile phones, may be filed in one design application.

The partial designs of products in set cannot be filed in one design application.

5. Regarding divisional design application

Where the design of the initial application is a whole design of the product, partial design of the product is not allowed to be the subject matter of the divisional design application. For example, where a design application is filed to protect the whole design of the motorcycle, no divisional application may be filed for the design of its parts or partial design of the motorcycle.

Where the design of the initial application is a partial design of the product, whole design of the product or whole design of its parts is not allowed to be filed in a divisional design application.

6. Regarding voluntary amendment

If voluntary amendments are made by the applicant beyond the time limit of two months from the filing date of application or amendments are made when the applicant responds to the official notifications, the following amendments cannot be accepted:

(1) Changing whole design into partial design;

(2) Changing partial design into whole design;

(3) Changing one partial design into another partial design in the same whole product.

7. Partial design involving graphical user interface

In the case that the essential elements of the product design only lie in the graphical user interface, the applicant may file a partial design application.

For such partial design, the product with the graphical user interface may be shown or not shown in the views.

The Brief description should indicate that the essential elements of design only lie in the graphical user interface or a part of the graphical user interface.