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South Korea's patent priority examination ushered in major adjustments: (1) Until now, the applicant may use the prior art search report issued by the specialized agency for prior art search designated by the KIPO to file a request for priority examination of Korean patent and trademark applications, but the KIPO announced on December 19, 2023 that the priority examination in this way will no longer be carried out from January 1, 2024; (2) From November 1, 2023,applications for inventions and utility models related to display technology may be submitted for priority examination for a period of one year.
According to the current Enforcement Order of the Korean IP Act, the KIPO may conduct priority examination if an application falls into a specific category, which includes: (i) an invention patent application filed under the Patent Examination Highway (PPH); (ii) patent applications for inventions that claim protection in respect of inventions that are in continuous use by third parties; (iii) an application for a patent for an invention that claims protection in respect of an invention that the applicant is implementing or preparing to implement; And (iv) patent applications for inventions for prior art search conducted by a specialized agency for prior art search designated by the KIPO. (The utility models, designs and trademarks also have corresponding examination provisions.)
However, with the increase in the number of priority examination applications, the examination burden of the KIPO has become more and more heavy, and in order to improve the quality and efficiency of the examination level, the KIPO announced on December 19, 2023 that the relevant provisions of the Korean IP Law will be revised. In the new regulations, the above type of (iv) applications, i.e., applications for prior art search conducted by prior art search agencies designated by the KIPO, will no longer be subject to priority examination, so that the examination resources will be more focused on cutting-edge technology areas (e.g., semiconductors, secondary batteries, biology, etc.), so as to provide more efficient and rapid examination services.
Correlatively, the KIPO has also announced that since November 1, the patent applications relevant to the display field developed or produced in South Korea will be included in the priority examination object, and the implementation period is tentatively set for one year. This policy is based on the Enforcement Decree of the IP Law revised in November last year, and the director of the KIPO announced the scope of cutting-edge technologies that can be subject to priority examination and the deadline for requesting. In the context of increasingly intense patent disputes in the global display field, the move is aimed at supporting the related companies to obtain patents quickly, and the scope of priority examination has been extended to the display field. In particular, priority examination is given to the applications that are directly related to materials, parts, equipment, manufacturing or design techniques that can be applied to the display field, as well as applications from companies that produce or prepare to produce display-related products and equipment in Korea, or applications for national research and development projects in display technology conducted by the Korean government.
Given that the average examination time for the priority examination applications in the semiconductor sector, implemented last year, was only 1.9 months, the new policy is expected to significantly reduce the time required for patent examination related to the display-related companies and research and development institutions in South Korea.