10 July 2025
Extended Response Period for Office Actions (4 months), and Deferred Examination Available for Divisional Applications
The Korean Intellectual Property Office has announced that the revised Enforcement Rules of the Patent Act and the Utility Model Act will take effect as of July 11, 2025. Below is a summary of the key revisions. A. Extension of the Response Period for Office Actions (from 2 months to 4 months) Under the revised Rules, the response period for an Office Action will be extended from t…
11 June 2025
Complimentary Anti-Counterfeiting Monitoring Service in Korea
First of all, we would like to express our sincere appreciation for entrusting Lee International with your intellectual property matters. It has been our privilege to support your brand protection efforts. As counterfeit goods continue to proliferate across online marketplaces, proactive and systematic enforcement has become more critical than ever. However, we understand that such effor…
29 May 2025
Korea Expands Trademark Protection: Amendment to Trademark Act Now in Force (Effective May 27)
Effective May 27, 2025, a significant amendment to the Korean Trademark Act has been promulgated and enforced, broadening the legal interpretation of “use of a trademark.” The revised provision now explicitly includes: “Supplying goods or packaging bearing a trademark into Korea through a third party such as a shipping agent.” This legislative update establishes a clearer legal foun…
28 February 2025
Lee International successfully appealed Final Rejection for invention related to a wireless power transmission device for a vehicle before IPTAB
The invention in the subject application relates to a wireless power transmission device for a vehicle. The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) finally rejected the subject application on the ground that the claimed invention lacks an inventive step. However, Lee International appealed the Final Rejection to the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (IPTAB), and successfu…
14 February 2025
Changes to Requirements for Correcting Design Creator Information (Effective February 12)
According to the revised Enforcement Rules of the Korean Design Protection Act, effective February 12, 2025, the requirements for correcting creator’s information have been changed, as summarized in the table below. Item Previous From February 12, 2025 Correction/Addition of Creators After filing and until a decision of reg…
07 January 2025
Increase in Punitive Damages for Trademark or Design Infringement Up to Quintuple
Increase in Punitive Damages for Trademark or Design Infringement Up to Quintuple On December 27, 2024, the Korean National Assembly passed amendments to the Trademark Act and the Design Act to increase the maximum award of punitive damages for a trademark or design infringement from three times the amount of damages to five times. According to the amendments, if the infringement of…
03 January 2025
Trademark Opposition Period to be Shortened from 2 Months to 30 Days Starting July 2025
Trademark Opposition Period to be Shortened from 2 Months to 30 Days Starting July 2025 A partial amendment to the Korean Trademark Act, aimed at shortening the trademark opposition period from two months to thirty (30) days, was passed by the National Assembly on December 27, 2024. Under the current Korean Trademark Act, if an examiner does not identify any grounds for refusa…
02 January 2025
Patent Protection Against Exportation of Infringing Products and Limits on Patent Term Extensions
Enforcement of Patent Rights Against Exportation of Infringing Products Under the current Patent Act, acts of manufacturing, using, assigning, leasing, or importing a patented product, or offering to assign or lease a patented product (including displaying the product for the purpose of assignment or lease) are considered as acts of working the patented invention. The Patent Act will be…
31 October 2024
Changes to Correction of Inventorship and Inventor Information Requirements (Effective November 1)
According to the revised Enforcement Rules of the Korean Patent Act, effective November 1, 2024, the requirements for correcting inventorship and the requirements for providing inventor information at the time of filing have been changed to clearly identify the true inventor(s), as summarized in the table below. Item Current From November 1, 2…
02 May 2024
Letter of Consent for Trademarks Now Available in South Korea
Under the previous Trademark Act, a trademark application may be refused if it is deemed similar or identical to pre-existing trademark applications or registrations owned by third parties. This posed an inconvenience for trademark applicants, as they had to undergo an assignment process to align the owners of their application with the owners of pre-existing trademark applications or registr…
