According to provisional statistics issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on 8 February 2010, China's growth rate in international filings was 29.7% - higher than anywhere else. China has now become the fifth largest PCT user worldwide. Despite the economic crisis, international patent filings in Asian countries continued to rise, Japan being the second largest PCT user (growth rate 3.6%) with Korea in fourth position (growth rate 2.1%).

The complete statistics can be accessed on WIPO's website at: http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2010/article_0003.html#_ftn1

Revised Korean Design Act regulations entered into force on 1 January 2010. They apply to all design applications filed on or after that date.

The main changes are:

1. The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) is now also accepting three-dimensional image drawings. These may be filed in DWG (Drawing), DWF (Design Web Format) and 3DS (3D Studio) formats. Two-dimensional drawings are still accepted.

2. The "orthogonal projection" requirement has been dropped.

3. Classification system have been amended.

4. The number of categories of articles eligible for unexamined design applications have been increased from 6 to 10.

Source: Ministry of Government Legislation (only in Korean):

http://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsSc.do?menuId=0&p1=&query=%EB%94%94%EC%9E%90%EC%9D%B8&x=0&y=0

On 1 October 2009, the Korean Patent Office (KIPO) launched its "super speed examination system" for green technology. The system is available for green technologies that minimise the discharge of pollutants, as well as those which have received funding or authentication for green growth. Applicants can apply for super speed examination by requesting a prior art search from one of three agencies authorised to conduct such searches on behalf of KIPO (the Korea Institute of Patent Information (KIPI), WIPS Co. Ltd. or IP Solution Co. Ltd.) and submitting the results of the search to KIPO.

Details of the application procedure for super speed examination and the documents required, etc. are posted on KIPO's website in the News section (article no. 688, published on 2 October 2009): http://www.kipo.go.kr

The annual report contains the latest figures on applications and granted patents, designs, trade marks and geographical indications in Korea and can be downloaded here: http://www.kipo.go.kr/en/ (click on "Annual Reports").

The number of patent applications decreased by 6.3% and the number of grants by a remarkable 40.1% for April to June 2009, compared to the same period in 2008. As for utility models, the number of grants dropped by 23.6% while applications rose slightly by 5.2%. According to KIPO, the comparatively large decrease in grants can be explained not only as an effect of the economic crisis, but also as a result of stricter, higher quality examination standards. Even though the figures for the second quarter remained negative, the decline was much smaller than for the first three months of 2009, due mainly to the recovery of Korea's economy and a stabilisation of exchange rates.

Compare KIPO press release of 3 August 2009 (in Korean only)

From 1 April 2009 onwards, the Korean Patent Office (KIPO) is offering a new service which will deliver preliminary results of trade mark examination to the applicant within two months, approximately four to five months faster than usual. An additional fee of approx. EUR 90 applies. The aim is to accelerate the settlement of trade mark-related disputes.

On 29 January 2009, the USPTO and Korean Patent Office (KIPO) declared their Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) permanent after a one-year pilot programme. Under the PPH, applicants receiving a ruling from either KIPO or the USPTO that at least one claim in an application is patentable may request that the other office fast track the examination of corresponding claims in corresponding applications.

Further information can be found on the USPTO website at: http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/pph/pph_kipo.html

Previously, applicants could file unlimited requests for monthly extensions of the two month time period for responding to office actions in Korea. These extensions have now been limited to four months, i.e. a total time of six months from receipt of KIPO's first office action. If applicants request further extensions, they have to give justifiable reasons. No extension will be granted where the request for examination was filed by a third party. The new rules apply to office actions issued on or after 1 July 2008.

For more information see   http://www.nampat.co.kr/english/information/view01.asp?regdate=2008-06-12%2013:25:42&num=qzEOa1yrnnb3&page=&pageSize=&table=tb_board15. or http://www.managingip.com/Article/2004289/Korea---KIPO-introduces-newpatent-rules.html

On 14 October 2008, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) became the third foreign intellectual property office (after the EPO and JPO) to use the Priority Document Exchange (PDX) system for automatically exchanging priority documents with the USPTO. For cases filed before 14 October 2008, applicants will still have to file a request for retrieval of the priority documents. At present, the PDX system does not include designs or PCT international applications.

For more information see http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/dapp/opla/preognotice/kipopdx_10142008.pdf

and http://www.uspto.gov/main/faq/faq_pdx.html

As of 01 July 2008, new rules apply for requesting extensions of the two month time period for responding to office actions in Korea. Previously, applicants could file unlimited requests for monthly extensions of this period. Now, applicants can only get extensions of up to four months. The overall time period for responding to office actions is thus now restricted to six months from the time of receiving KIPO's first office action. If applicants request further extensions, they have to give justifiable reasons. The request for extension will not be accepted if the request for examination was filed by a third party. The new rules apply for all applications with office actions issued on or after 01 July 2008. For more details please see: http://www.nampat.co.kr/english/information/view01.asp?regdate=2008-06-12%2013:25:42&num=qzEOa1yrnnb3&page=&pageSize=&table=tb_board15.For additional information also see:  http://www.managingip.com/Article/2004289/Korea---KIPO-introduces-new-patent-rules.html

for Korean patents and utility models? In July 2008, the Korea Institute of Patent Information (KIPI) enhanced the search functions of the K2E-PAT machine translation service on the KIPRIS database. Users of K2E-PAT now have available 23 search fields, including a search with English keywords in original Korean data (cross-lingual patent retrieval function).

On top of machine-translated search results, K2E-PAT now also provides English titles of Korean patents and utility models, and English transliterations of applicants' names as filed by the applicants.

Although obtaining K2E-PAT machine translations of Korean full texts is a fee-based service, searching and displaying the results list (including the English titles and applicants' names filed by the applicants) is free-of-charge.

The K2E-PAT machine translation service is available at: http://k2epat.kipris.or.kr/k2epat/searchLogina.do?next=GeneralSearch

For more information on the K2E-PAT machine translation service see: http://www.epo.org/patents/patent-information/east-asian/translation/K2E-PAT.html

 survey on Korean Patent Abstracts (KPA)? KIPI hopes that users of Korean patent information will give feedback on the quality and usefulness of KPA English abstracts. The survey will run until 18 June 2008 on the KIPRIS (Korea Industrial Property Rights Information Service) website at http://eng.kipris.or.kr/

According to WIPO's Patent Report 2007, patent filings by residents doubled in Korea and increased eight-fold in China between 1995 and 2005. For more information see www.epo.org/focus/news/2007/20070810.html and www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/statistics/patents/patent_report_2007.html

of cases presented to the board of appeal, KIPT (Korean Intellectual Property Tribunal)? With additional administrative judges, the adoption of an “intensive” trial system and the limitation of time extensions for filing responses, KIPO hopes to shorten the decision period from approximately 14 months currently to six months by the end of 2007. For more information please look at: http://www.managingip.com/default.asp?page=10&pubID=34&SID=682668&ISS=23713&LS=EMS125252(Source; MIP News, "KIPO patent trials to be decided within six months") 

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