Korean Chapter of Global Patent GO——Introduction to Korean Patent Application

Han River Miracle Republic of Korea

South Korea is one of the world's major economies, a member of the Group of 20, and a developed country in the OECD with a sound market economy system. Its GDP ranks 11th in the world, and it is also the 7th largest exporter and 7th largest importer in the world. As an energy-poor country, South Korea relies on imports for 97% of its energy, and has invested heavily in communications, manufacturing, and technology. In 1986, South Korea became the 10th country in the world to develop the TDX-1 electronic exchange system; Xiang Iron and Steel is one of the largest steel companies in the world and occupies an important position in the world's steel manufacturing market; Samsung's heavy industry occupies 60% of the world market; about 10% of the world's large oil tankers are produced by Daewoo; since the establishment of South Korea in 1966 After the Institute of Science and Technology, after nearly 50 years of cultivation and support of domestic science and technology, South Korea has completed the leap from technology introduction to technology innovation. At present, South Korea has become the global leader in semiconductor storage technology, and South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are the world's largest two DRAM manufacturers. In the "2015 Global Innovation Index Ranking" jointly released by WIPO, Cornell University and INSEAD International Business School, South Korea ranked 11th.

Since China and South Korea established diplomatic relations in 1992, the two countries have gradually become each other's important trading partners. According to statistics from the Korean Intellectual Property Office in 2021, despite the spread of the epidemic, South Korea's invention, utility model, design patent applications, and trademark applications have increased by 9.1% year-on-year, hitting a record high, especially e-commerce, medical And the number of applications in the medical field has risen sharply.

In the 1960s, South Korea chanted the slogan of "building the country with science and technology". In 2003, it implemented the development strategy of "the second science and technology building the country" again, and even regarded the high-tech information industry as the foundation of the country. It can be said that South Korea has enjoyed the development benefits brought by high technology, and it is also a beneficiary of the patent system.

Introduction to Korean Patent System

1. Review unit

The Korean Patent Office, KIPO, has a total of 1,661 employees. The Korean Patent Office’s issuance of the first examination opinion notice for invention patents takes an average of 10.3 months, and for design patents 5.5 months, which is the most efficient first-pass cycle among major patent offices in the world. At the same time, KIPO has undertaken many Examination work in other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and other countries have outsourced the search business to the Korean Patent Office. Of course, the search work in so many countries cannot be completed by KIPO examiners alone. In fact, more than 60% of KIPO search work is outsourced to third-party independent search agencies. KIPO is extremely friendly to small and medium-sized enterprises, and has set up various projects to help small and medium-sized enterprises strengthen the creation and application of intellectual property rights and help them become "intellectual property star enterprises".

2. Application Submission
1) The new application can be submitted in any language, but the translation must be submitted within 2 months;
2) KIPO checks the documents submitted by patent applicants to ensure that all applications comply with the formal requirements of the Patent Law.

3. Disclosure procedure
Invention patents need to be published within 18 months from the filing date.

4. Review process
1) Within 5 years from the application date/priority date of the invention patent, the applicant or interested party may submit a request for substantive examination;

2) KIPO also implements substantive examination for utility model patents. In order to speed up the examination process and enable applicants to obtain faster granted and more protection cycles, KIPO stipulates that if an applicant submits a substantive request when a new application is submitted, the 2 months to request priority review without submitting any other additional documents and fees.

3) KIPO implements two different examination systems for design patents, one is the design that needs to undergo substantive examination, and the other is the design that does not need to undergo substantive examination for some specific items, such as relatively simple daily necessities. Clothing, bed sheets, floor mats, curtains, office paper, printed matter, wrapping paper, packaging containers, textiles, etc. are not subject to substantive examination.

4) Inventions and utility models in Korea are interchangeable under certain conditions, and the original filing date is retained.

5. Authorization and registration
After examination, KIPO finds no reason for rejection, that is, it issues a letter of granted to the patent application. The applicant must go through the patent registration procedure within 3 months from the date of receiving the notification, and pay the registration fee and 1-3 year annual fee.

6. Expedited review
1) KIPO has implemented a three-track system for invention patents and utility model examinations since October 2018. Applicants can request accelerated examination within 3 months after the submission of a new application, and any patent application can submit an accelerated examination ask;

2) Priority examination: For patent applications that are enforced by a third party after publication, or that are recognized as requiring urgent processing, such as patent applications related to the field of national defense and e-commerce, etc., the priority examination only needs to be submitted to the Korean domestic applicants cannot apply for priority examination for Chinese applicants;

3) KIPO has started the green technology ultra-fast review process since October 2009, that is, patent applications related to green technology related to "low-carbon green growth" can apply for green technology super-fast review, but the review process is very restrictive Strict, in addition to obtaining a local green technology certificate in South Korea, the applicant is also required to set up a company entity or branch in South Korea;

4) From June 10, 2019, in addition to the 7 types of technologies previously stipulated in KIPO, including artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, 3D printing, driverless driving, big data, cloud computing, and intelligent robots, which can apply for accelerated review, a new Nine categories of fields, including smart cities, AR/VR, innovative drugs, new renewable energy, customized healthcare, drones, next-generation networks, smart semiconductors, and advanced materials, can all implement accelerated review.

Friendliness to Chinese applicants:
★★★★★
Gold content of patent rights:
★★★★★
The degree of perfection of the rights protection mechanism:
★★★★★