Patent applicants who claim priority for applications between the Korean
Intellectual Property Office (KIPO, Commissioner: Sang-Woo Jun) and the European
Patent Office (EPO) will no longer need to turn in their priority documents to
the patent office. KIPO announced that priority documents will be exchanged
online with EPO starting in July.
Under the ‘priority system,’ the date
of application is recognized as the earlier date when an applicant filed an
identical application in another country. Prior to the online exchange,
applicants had to first receive ‘priority documents’ and then submit them to the
patent office in the corresponding country to secure priority status. This
exchange system of priority documents had caused inconvenience for the
applicants as well as an administrative cost burden for KIPO to computerize
priority documents.
KIPO had started to exchange priority documents with
the Japan Patent Office (JPO) in August 2002 to resolve applicants’
inconvenience and reduce administrative costs. Through continuous discussions
and the establishment of the related information system with EPO, KIPO and EPO
succeeded in launching an online priority document exchange system. Using the
online system, applicants who wish to claim priority between KIPO and EPO can
simply write the application number for priority on a designated form. KIPO and
EPO will find the priority documents on behalf of the applicant and exchange
them.
This online exchange system between KIPO and EPO will improve the
service quality for patent customers and also reduce related administrative
costs.
Based on the success of its online system, KIPO will continue to
improve its patent administration service by expanding online priority document
exchange to other countries, including the US.
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