Lee International

The Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP, formerly KIPO) has announced key updates to its trademark examination practices aimed at improving transparency and aligning procedures with evolving business realities. The changes reflect feedback from the industrial sector and are expected to take effect in the latter half of this year.

1. Advance Notice of Opposition Decision Dates

Until now, trademark applicants and opponents have had limited visibility into when opposition decisions would be issued. To improve predictability, MOIP will begin notifying parties of the expected date of decision in opposition proceedings. This advance notice will allow businesses to better plan their trademark strategies and anticipate key milestones.

2. Increased Flexibility in Determining Similar Goods and Services

The MOIP also plans to revise how it determines similarity between goods and services.  Under Korean trademark practice, MOIP assigns a unique goods similarity code for each good and service, and goods or services sharing the same similarity code are generally deemed similar for examination purposes.  Currently, the classification of goods similarity codes is updated only once per year, and the updated classification is applied to applications filed after January 1 of the year. This schedule often fails to reflect changes in market conditions between filing and examination. Going forward, MOIP intends to update the goods similarity codes two to four times annually and apply them based on the examination date, rather than the filing date. This change will enable examiners to better reflect current commercial practices when assessing similarity.

These upcoming changes mark a significant step toward a more agile and business-friendly trademark examination framework in Korea.