知产慧学堂丨韩国专利申请指南

韩国是《世界贸易组织》《巴黎公约》《专利合作条约》《海牙协定》《国际承认用于专利程序的微生物保存布达佩斯条约》的成员国。

韩国工业产权局(KIPO)是主要负责专利、实用新型、外观设计、商标、半导体集成电路布图设计、商业秘密和反不正当竞争等工业产权项目的保护。

发明专利、实用新型专利：直接申请、巴黎公约、PCT

According to the current system, utility models must pass substantive examination before they are authorized. The examination procedure is the same as for Patents, as shown below:

In Korea, there are two forms of examination of design application, one is substantive examination and the other is no examination system. 

The two have the same rights and effects, and the no examination system only applies to specific product categories. The two review procedures are shown in the following two figures:

According to the Korean Patent Law, the applicant for utility model application can convert the application for utility model into an invention patent application within the scope of disclosure of the original specification and appended drawings.

Similarly, the applicant for an invention patent application may convert the patent application into a utility model patent application.

However, it should be noted that all applications for conversion occurred before the grant. Once the invention patents or utility model patents are granted, they cannot be converted to each other.

The purpose of the application conversion is to preserve the original application date and convert the original application to a more favorable application type.

Reasons for submitting conversion requests include: the applicant submitted the application in a hurry based on the first-to-file principle, chose the wrong form of application, misunderstood the patent system, or had difficulty in determining the subject of the application.

In South Korea, there is no censorship system for the appearance design of specific product categories, which include: Class 1 (food), Class 2 (Articles of clothing and haberdashery), Class 3 (Travel goods, cases, parasols and personal belongings, not elsewhere specified), Class 5 (Textile piece goods, artificial and natural sheet material), Class 9 (Packaging and containers for the transport or handling of goods), Class 11(Articles of adornment), and Class 19(Stationery and office equipment, artists' and teaching materials).

Note that the categories here refer to the categories in Locarno's classification.

In general, it takes two years for a Korean invention or utility model patent to be filed and one year for a design. In order to speed up the examination and facilitate the applicant, South Korea has set up accelerated patent examination methods, including: PPH, priority examination, expedited examination procedures in the three-track examination system and the accelerated examination cycle method of requesting a search report issued by a designated search institution.

The specific forms are as follows:

1. Patent Review Highway (PPH)

It is applicable to patent offices that first apply for a PPH agreement with KIPO and second apply for entry into Korea. The applicant may request an expedited review if at least one of the claims in the prior review decision has an authorization prospect.

2. Prioritize review

The preferential examination system is a system that allows patent applications that meet certain conditions to be examined before other applications rather than in the order of trial.

Scope of application is as follows:

①When the third party forcibly implements the application after public disclosure: it is necessary to provide supporting materials, and after submitting it, it can be examined first.

②Patent applications that are recognized as requiring urgent treatment.

3. Expedited review procedures in the three-track review system

KIPO has implemented a three-track examination system for invention patents and utility models since October 2008, in which applicants can choose the most suitable examination procedure for their needs among expedited examination, regular examination and delayed examination.

Expedited review starts 3 months after the application, ordinary review starts 18 months after the application, and deferred review starts 3 months after the desired deferred review. Any Korean patent application can request expedited review.

4. Request the designated search agency to issue the search report of the accelerated review cycle

According to the work arrangement, KIPO will appropriately assign cases to designated retrieval institutions for the first technical retrieval every month. The applicant may also request the designated retrieval institution to issue a search report and provide it to KIPO.

It is expected to take 2-3 weeks to prepare the search report, and it is expected to issue the first review opinion half a year after submitting it to KIPO.