IP Report

Revision to Patent Act – Alleviated Requirements for Filing Patent Applications and Reviving Patent Rights

A partial revision to the Patent Act of the Republic of Korea was enacted and went into effect on April 20, 2022. This partial revision if intended to help individual inventors...

Hyundai Motor Company Wins Patent Infringement Litigation in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC)

Recently, Hyundai Motor Company won an appeal in a patent infringement litigation against StratosAudio. The decision overturned the trial court’s decision in Hyundai Motor’s fav...

2022 Korea - Highlight of the Changes in IP system & Trend in Statistics

According to the statistical trends in intellectual property announced by the KIPO in March 2021, the cumulative number of applications for patents, utility models, designs, and...

Limitations of Advertising to Avoid Cancellation of Trademarks for Non-Use

The use of a trademark in advertisement alone is not sufficient to avoid cancellation for non-use – Patent Court of Korea Case No. 2021 Heo 3192

Supreme Court Acknowledges the Right for Law firms to File Applications for Trademark Registration on Behalf of Applicants

- Those who are involved in the scientific and technological field and professional qualification organizations oppose this decision, and are using all measures to request coope...

Revised guidelines for patent examination – Revision to preferential examination system and information provision system

Article 4 of the Notice on application for preferential examination of patents and utility models stipulates that applicants may request a specialized institution announced by t...

5G mobile communication technology becomes arena for patent disputes between global companies

5G mobile communication is mobile communication technology with a maximum download speed of 20 Gbps and a minimum download speed of 100 Mbps, and has the characteristics of ultr...

Registration of a trademark application filed by an ordinary person for a trade name of a large-scale company’s parent company is rejected

- Decision (Case No. 2020Heo2192 for invalidation of registration (trademark) rendered by the Patent Court of Korea on July 6, 2021)

[Trademark] “Can anyone use registered trademarks?”

- Use of a trademark that has become a commonly used mark does not constitute infringement upon a trademark right.

AJU KIM CHANG LEEJune 18, 2021

Reinforced Examination Guidelines for Parameter Inventions

Proposed Revision of Patent Examination Guidelines – Revision of examination guidelines for parameter inventions and accelerated examination

AJU KIM CHANG LEEJune 18, 2021

Inventorship of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Disapproved

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) recently communicated a request for correction, with respect to an international patent application (PCT application) which had en...