Lee International

[MOIP Strengthens Examination Capacity and Reduces Pendency]

The Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP) announced that it will recruit 34 new patent examiners, primarily in advanced technology fields such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and computing.  Following the increase of 165 examiners over the past three years in areas such as semiconductors, secondary batteries, and biotechnology, the MOIP plans to continue expanding its examiner workforce to improve both the quality and speed of patent examination in Korea.

In addition, examination pendency (i.e., the period from a request for examination to the issuance of a Notice of Allowance or a Final Rejection) is set to be reduced.  To help applicants secure patent rights more quickly, the MOIP will shorten, for accelerated examination cases, the time for examiners to review applicants’ responses from the current four months to two months.

The budget allocated for prior art search has also been increased by 19.9% compared to the previous year, to KRW 39.9 billion.  As a result, the average first action pendency (i.e., the period from the request for examination to the issuance of a first Office Action) is expected to decrease from 14.7 months last year to 14 months this year.

Accordingly, the overall time required to obtain patent rights in Korea is expected to be further reduced going forward.

[MOIP Expands Examiner Interview Opportunities]

The restriction on the number of examiner interviews, through which applicants may obtain examiner’s feedback on draft amendments prior to responding to an Office Action or a Final Rejection, has been relaxed, effective March 11, 2026.  Under the revised practice, even if the applicant has already conducted an interview with the examiner at the Office Action stage to review a draft amendment, an additional interview may now be requested prior to requesting continued examination following a Final Rejection.  In addition, whereas interviews for reviewing draft amendments were previously available only within approximately two to three weeks from the request date, the permissible window has been expanded to run from one week after the interview request date up to the deadline for filing an amendment.

Accordingly, more proactive use of examiner interviews may be considered as a strategic measure for securing patent rights at an early stage.