Updates to the Korean Intellectual Property Office’s Examination Rules

The newly revised Patent Law of South Korea will take effect on July 22, 2025. In order to adapt to the relevant provisions of the new Patent Law, the Korean Patent Office (KIPO) will implement some new rules from January 1, 2025, including:

• The processing time for applications with accelerated review has been reduced from four months to three months
• Divisional applications will be examined based on their own examination requests, rather than in the same order as the parent application.
• From April 1, 2025, the time to start the review of applications for reexamination will be extended from 1 month to 6 months

The changes made by the Korean Intellectual Property Office in patent examination rules (such as accelerated PPH application processing and extended reexamination time) have provided us with new ideas for optimizing our clients’ patent application strategies in Korea. This increased efficiency and flexibility can help clients obtain patent authorization faster and more targeted.