19 February 2021
Expansion of Articles for the Partial-Substantive Examination System (PSES) in Korea
On November 30, 2020, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced that the number of articles for the PSES will be expanded from three to seven as of December 1, 2020.Designs of products that have short commercial life cycles and are easily imitated, such as clothing, textile piece goods, artificial and natural sheet material, and stationery and office equipment which belong in Locarn…
19 February 2021
Introduction of Punitive Damages System for Trademark and Design Infringement
A bill to revise the Korean Trademark Act and the Design Protection Act introducing punitive damages for trademark and design infringement was passed by the Korean National Assembly on September 24, 2020. The revised Trademark Act and the revised Design Protection Act will take effect starting in April 2021. The revised Trademark Act and the revised Design Protection Act will allo…
19 February 2021
Patent Term Adjustment Reduction due to delayed registration by applicant is changed
- The Patent Term Adjustment is reduced as applicant delay by the period from the receipt of a Notice of Final Rejection until the conclusion date of continued examination. Previously, the applicant delay period was determined until the date requesting continued examination. - The Patent Term Adjustment is reduced, if documents necessary for substantive examination is not filed wi…
19 February 2021
KIPO starts to accept documents digitally signed by foreign applicants or patentees
As of June 17, 2020, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) started to accept (general or limited) powers of attorney and electronic (remote) notarial certificates signed digitally by foreign applicants or patentees, provided that their Korean translations include an agent’s statement affirming the authenticity of such digital signatures. This is also applicable to cases in which a di…
19 February 2021
Legislation Update: Enhanced Damages for Patent Infringement in Korea
The Korean Patent Act was revised as of May 20, 2020 with respect to the provisions for calculating damages for patent infringement. Under the pre-revised Act, no damages could be claimed for infringing products in a quantity exceeding a patentee’s capacity to produce its patented products. However, according to the revision, it is now possible for a patentee to claim damages even for t…
19 February 2021
Covid-19: Relief Measures at IP5 (updated on May 8, 2020)
The IP5 Offices, which include the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the National Intellectual Property Administration of the People’s Republic of China (CNIPA), and the Japan Patent Office (JPO), have announced measures to relieve missing of deadlines or loss of rights caused by the COVID-19. &nbs…
19 February 2021
Covid-19: Additional Ex-Officio Extension of Deadlines before KIPO
Further to its last announcement on the ex-officio extension on March 31, 2020, KIPO announced on April 28, 2020 that due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19 worldwide, the deadline for submitting some documents relating to prosecution of pending applications for patent, utility model, trademark or design will be further extended to May 31, 2020 by the ex officio authority. This is a precautio…
19 February 2021
Covid-19: Relief Measures at IP5
The IP5 Offices, which include the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the National Intellectual Property Administration of the People’s Republic of China (CNIPA), and the Japan Patent Office (JPO), have announced measures to relieve missing of deadlines or loss of rights caused by the COVID-19. &nbs…
19 February 2021
Ex officio extension of deadlines before KIPO
On March 31, 2020, the KIPO announced that due to the devastating impact of COVID-19 worldwide, the deadline for submitting some documents relating to prosecution of pending applications for patent, utility model, trademark or design will be extended to April 30, 2020 by the ex officio authority. This is a precautionary measure to prevent applications from being invalid or rejected for failu…
19 February 2021
Online Transmission of Software Constitutes an Act of Patent Infringement
According to the revised Patent Act, which will become effective as of March 11, 2020, an act of online transmission of software that illegally utilizes a patented invention may constitute a patent infringement. Under the current Patent Act, a software invention comprising a patented technology is entitled to patent protection if it claims software in a form that is stored in a recording medi…
