Home >
IP SYSTEM > PATENT > EXAMINATION
PATENT
●EXAMINATION
- LAYING OPEN OF PATENT APPLICATION
- All patent applications are laid open eighteen (18) months after the filing date (or eighteen months after the priority date if
priority is claimed), or even before eighteen months if the applicant requests early laying open of the application (Art. 64).
After a patent application is laid open, the applicant may warn a person who has commercially or industrially worked the
invention of the patent application, in writing, to indicate that a patent application for the invention has been filed.
- REQUEST FOR EXAMINATION
- 1. Examination System in the Republic of Korea
The substantive examination is carried out only on a patent application for which the request for examination has been filed
(Art. 59[1]). If no such request is filed within the prescribed period, the patent application is deemed to be withdrawn
(Art 59[5]).
2. Time Limit for Filing the Request for Examination
The request for examination should be filed within five (5) years of the filing date (in the case of an international patent
application, five years after the international filing date).
3. Substantive Examination
A patent application will be substantively examined one and a half to two years after the date of filing the request for
examination.
- PREFERENTIAL EXAMINATION SYSTEM
- A certain category of patent applications may be preferentially examined. Article 61 of the Korea Patent Act prescribes the
category in the following subparagraphs:
(i) where a person other than the applicant is commercially and industrially working the invention claimed in the patent
application after the laying open of the application; or
(ii) where the Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office determines urgent processing is necessary as a patent
application designated by the Enforcement Decree.
- REJECTION
- 1. Notification of Rejection
If the examiner finds any reason to reject a patent application, the examiner notifies the applicant of the rejection and
provides an opportunity to submit an argument to rebut the reason for rejection (Art. 63).
On receipt of the notification of rejection, the applicant may present a written argument and/or an amendment (if necessar)
within the designated due date (two months after the notification is
issued) in order to resolve the rejection. This due date can be extended on a month-to-month basis with a payment of fee
upon written request.
2. Decision of Final Rejection
The examiner issues the decision of final rejection if the reason for rejection was not resolved by the applicant’s written
argument or claim amendment (or no response is filed by the applicant: Art. 62).