Partial Revision of the Enforcement Decree and the Enforcement Rules of the Korean Patent Act

(1) Adjustment of the subject matter of prioritized  examination (No. 29955 of the Presidential Decree)

To adjust the subject matter of prioritized examination, in which the examination of a patent application takes priority over other patent applications, reasonably to have it reflect actual practices more properly, patent applications for the results of quality assurance businesses, etc. were excluded from the subject matter of prioritized examination due low amount of requests. In addition, international patent applications whose international search was conducted by the Korean Patent Office as an ISR organization pursuant to the “Patent Cooperation Treaty” were added as the subject matter of prioritized examination. Accordingly, this adjustment is expected to supplement certain drawbacks in the operation of current prioritized examination system , and the revised enforcement decree will begin to apply from the requests for prioritized examination that are submitted after July 9, 2019.

※ Source: Partial revision of the Korean Patent Act, Patent Examination Policy Bureau of KIPO, July 2019.

(2) Revision of requirement of inventor correction (No. 337 of the Ordinance of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy)

Previously, addition or correction to information of an inventor was possible only prior to the determination of patent grant/rejection of a patent application, and after patent grant/rejection is determined, information of an inventor could be added or corrected only when description of the information of the inventor was considered to have been clearly omitted or miswritten on a patent application. According to the revised enforcement rules, information of an inventor can be added or corrected if a certificate document signed or sealed by all of the inventors is attached even after the patentability of the application has been determined. For an evidentiary document of a signature from a person who is initiating a patent-related procedure, a document proving authorization of a signature should be submitted in addition to a notarial certificate. The revised enforcement rules will begin to apply from the patent applications that are filed after June 10, 2019.

※Source: Partial revision of the Enforcement Regulation of the Korean Patent Act, Patent Examination Policy Bureau of KIPO, June, 2019.