Provisional Specifications Have Been Actively Used When Filing Patent and Utility Model Applications > Newsletter 2021

Provisional Specifications Have Been Actively Used When Filing Patent and Utility Model Applications

21-05-19 14:18

It has been found that companies have been actively using provisional specification when filing a patent and utility model application. As of March 30, 2020, an applicant is allowed to file a patent and utility model application with a free-format provisional specification, such as a thesis or research note without following the prescribed specification requirements.

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), a total of 2,534 patents and utility model applications were filed with provisional specifications by October 2020, which indicates an average of 360 applications per month. Technological fields that substantially use provisional specifications are the fields in which new technologies such as telecommunication technology (21.2%), computerization/data processing technology (14.2%), and medical technology (9.5%) are emerging.

[ Percentage of Provisional Specifications as Filed by Technology Field ]

By type of applicant, large corporations (38.6%) are using provisional specifications more actively than small and medium-sized companies (30.2%) and individuals (19.9%).

It appears that the large corporations frequently use provisional specifications for the purpose of submitting technical data in foreign languages. According to the KIPO, among the provisional specifications (979) submitted by large corporations, 53% (514) of the provisional specifications is in foreign languages. By allowing to submit a provisional specification, it would be advantageous for the corporations or research institutes that do a lot of R&D to easily secure the early filing date without having to spend much time on drafting a standard specification.

[ Number and Percentage of Provisional Specifications as Filed by Applicant Type ]

Month	Large corporations	Small and medium-sized corporations	Individual	Industry-Academic Cooperation Group	Government-funded organizations	Foreign corporations	Total
March and April	53	91	76	18	6	1	245
May	130	61	56	14	1	0	262
June	173	93	80	24	2	0	372
July	196	167	85	35	7	0	490
August	106	99	83	32	10	3	333
September	142	156	79	26	9	24	436
October	179	99	44	54	19	1	396
Total	979	766	503	203	54	29	2534
Percentage	38.6%	30.2%	19.9%	8.0%	2.1%	1.1%	100%

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