FAQ

A person who wishes to submit an opinion in accordance with the content of an Office Action (notice of grounds for rejection) may, within the submission period stated in the Office Action, file a written opinion or an amendment of the bibliographic matters (specimen). A document proving the content of the opinion may be attached to the written opinion, and where the applicant wishes to delete or correct the designated goods, etc. in the application, an amendment of the bibliographic matters may be filed (Article 23 of the Trademark Act).

The invention must not be known to the public at the time of filing (novelty), must demonstrate an advance over prior technology (inventive step), and must have industrial applicability (Article 29 of the Patent Act, requirements for a patent).

1. It must be an "invention" : Under the Patent Act, an invention means "a highly advanced creation of a technical idea utilizing the laws of nature."
   – Not inventions: methods of calculation, methods of drawing, methods of creating ciphers, computer programs (listings) themselves, hypnotism, methods of taxation, inventions relating to perpetual motion machines or unlimited power, etc.
   
   
2. Industrial applicability (Article 29, Paragraph 1, main text of the Patent Act)
   – "Industry" basically refers to production sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, and livestock farming, but it also includes auxiliary industrial sectors such as transportation and traffic services.
   – "Insurance and finance businesses" and the "medical business" are excluded from industry.
   – Inventions lacking industrial applicability: inventions that can only be used for "academic or experimental" purposes, and inventions that do not fall under the "concept of an invention"
   
   
3. Novelty (Article 29, Paragraph 1, Subparagraphs 1-2 of the Patent Act) : Whether an invention has novelty is judged as of the time of the relevant patent application, so if a patent application is filed after the invention has become publicly known, in principle the invention is deemed to have lost its novelty. Even a technical creation that existed before filing and has not been registered as a patent cannot obtain a patent or utility model registration if, before filing, it was publicly known or publicly worked within the country, or was described in a publication distributed at home or abroad.
   
   
4. Inventive step (Article 29, Paragraph 2 of the Patent Act) : An invention with an inventive step means an invention that has a degree of creative difficulty such that a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the invention pertains could not easily make it from inventions publicly known at the time of the patent application.
   – A mere "aggregation invention" of publicly known inventions has no inventive step, and
   – A "combination invention" of publicly known inventions may, in some cases, have an inventive step.

Where a patent application is filed and registration is obtained, the patent right has exclusive and exclusionary effect only domestically, in accordance with the principle of territoriality. Therefore, in order to exercise a patent right abroad, you must file an application and obtain registration in the relevant country.

An overseas patent application

(1) may be filed directly by the applicant appointing an agent (patent attorney) in accordance with the national law of the relevant country, or
(2) there is a method of filing with the KIPO (Korean Intellectual Property Office) under the international application procedure pursuant to the Patent Cooperation Treaty and designating the countries in which registration is desired.

arises upon registration of establishment (Article 87(1) of the Act). Registration of establishment of a patent right here refers to the so-called new registration whereby, if an applicant who has received notice of a decision to grant a patent or of a trial decision pays the prescribed patent fee within 3 months from the date of receiving the notice, or within 6 months after the lapse of the payment deadline, and does not fall under the grounds for non-acceptance under Article 34 of the Patent Registration Decree, the patent right arises; this refers to the final procedure for a patent application. The term (duration) of a patent right runs from the date of registration of establishment of the patent right until the date on which 20 years have elapsed after the patent application filing date (Article 88 of the Patent Act). In addition, where the last day of the term (duration) of the patent right falls on a public holiday, it does not expire on the following day but expires on that public holiday.

In addition to the mandatory procedures, where additional procedures are taken, such as amendment of documents, claim of priority, or request for accelerated examination, the costs may increase. Looking at the fees centered on the mandatory procedures at the time of filing a patent application, they are as follows.

(1) First, the application fee, in the case of a written application, has a basic fee of 38,000 KRW, with 1,000 KRW added per page of the specification and drawings.

(2) Next, the cost of the request for examination has a basic fee of 109,000 KRW, with 32,000 KRW added per claim in the scope of the patent claims.

For your reference, more detailed information regarding fees can be found at the KIPO (Korean Intellectual Property Office) website (http://www.kipo.go.kr) under "Application Service Customer - Fee Information" at the upper right of the home screen, so please make use of it.