Accelerated Examination of Patent Applications in Korea - Priority Examination/PPH

Patent applications in South Korea have distinct characteristics. The three types of patents, inventions, utility models and designs, all require substantive examination. Designs are further divided into a substantive examination system and a partial substantive examination system. However, no matter what type of patent application, accelerated examination can be requested, and as long as the patent application meets the requirements for accelerated examination, both Korean patent applicants and foreign applicants can request accelerated examination.

Accelerated examination only for invention patent applications: Anyone who has filed a patent application can request accelerated examination. For patent applications related to the work of national or local governments, only national or local governments, including organizations dedicated to technology transfer and commercialization established in national and public schools, can request accelerated examination. Requests for accelerated examination are available to patent applicants worldwide.

• Ultra-fast examination of green technology: can shorten the examination time to less than 1 month; non-Korean patent applicants must have a corporate entity or a branch in Korea, and Chinese applicants generally find it difficult to meet the requirements
• Patent applications where the third party implements the patent and the patent is at risk of infringement
• Patent applications related to high-tech
• Patent applications related to technologically innovative SMEs
• Patent application where the applicant uses the invention as business or prepares to implement the invention
• Patent applications related to electronic transactions
• Agreement with foreign offices: Patent applications with potential for granting
• Patent applications related to the 4th Industrial Revolution: Start 3 months after application, mainly applicable to the 7 technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution, namely artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, 3D printing, unmanned driving, big data, cloud computing, and intelligent robots.
• Patent applications that entrust professional institutions to conduct prior art investigations
• PPH request (only for invention patent applications): South Korea participates in the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH); the Global PPH pilot; the IP5 PPH and bilateral PPH agreements with other countries. The IP5 PPH program and the Global PPH program are carried out simultaneously and have the same content, but different offices participate.

• Starting from August 1, 2023, KIPO will cooperate with USPTO and JPO to set the time for issuing examination opinions for PPH applications to 3 months.
• Currently, KIPO has signed PPH bilateral agreements with DPMA, IMPI, IPOPHL, TIPO, SIC, EAPO, IP Vietnam, SAIP, INPI (Brazil), MyIPO, INPI (France), DGIP, MOIC, JPO, USPTO, DKPTO, UKIPO, CIPO, ROSPATENT, NBPR, SPTO, CNIPA, HIPO, IPOS, APO, and PPO.

• After the Office of First Filing (OFF) has evaluated the patentability of the patent application, the Office of Second Filing (OSF) will provide the applicant with accelerated examination services for the corresponding application if certain conditions are met. The claims of the two applications must fully correspond, and the search and examination results of the OFF can be provided to the OSF.
  

  
  • PPH must meet the following conditions:
    • National applications, including PCT national applications, validly claim priority from OFF applications
    • At least one claim in the OFF application is considered patentable/allowable
    • All claims in the OSF application must sufficiently correspond to one or more patentable/allowed claims in the OFF application, or sufficiently correspond to those claims after amendment.
  • Submit documents:
    • The claims of the patent application that OFF considers patentable/intended to be granted and their Korean translation
    • Copies of all examination opinions issued by OFF and their translations
    • Copies of all cited references in OFF
    • Claim correspondence table

A request for accelerated examination may also be made for utility model patent applications.

After the design is made public, if someone else is using the same design, the applicant can request a prioritized examination. If the design is designated by a presidential decree, an urgent examination request can also be filed.