Lee International

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 precautionary measure to prevent applications from being invalidated or rejected for failing to file required documents, such as a response to an office action issued by KIPO, in a timely manner due to the direct or indirect impact of COVID-19 to the applicants or agents worldwide.  The deadlines will be automatically extended without needing to file a request for the extension, and there will be no official fees associated with this extension.  This extension will be applied to the deadlines designated by KIPO falling between April 30, 2020 and May 30, 2020 (also including the deadlines previously falling between March 31 and April 29, 2020 which were extended to April 30, 2020 by the last ex-officio extension).  In other words, the deadlines falling between March 31, 2020 and May 30, 2020 will automatically be extended to May 31, 2020.

The deadlines designated by KIPO, which are subject to this ex-officio extension, include:

   • deadline for responding to an official notice requiring correction

   • deadline for responding to an Office Action

   • deadline for submitting a brief regarding an opposition of a trademark registration

However, some deadlines explicitly prescribed under the Patent, Utility Model, Trademark and Design Protection Acts or which may impact or give a rise to a dispute for the involved parties are not subject to the aforesaid extension.  Such deadlines include:

   • deadline for entering the national phase for a PCT international application

   • deadline for requesting examination

   • deadline for requesting continued examination or appealing a Final Rejection

   • deadline for filing an opposition against a trademark application, 

   • deadline for responding to an Office Action of an international trademark registration through the Madrid System

   • deadlines related to an appeal against the IPTAB’s decision