30 January 2024
Increase in Punitive Damages for Patent Infringement and Trade Secret Misappropriation Up to Quintuple
On January 25, 2024, the Korean National Assembly passed an amendment to the Patent Act to increase the maximum award of punitive damages for a patent infringement from three times the amount of damages to five times. According to the amendment, if the infringement of a patent right or an exclusive license thereof is found to be willful, the court may award punitive damages up to quint…
10 October 2023
Introduction of Coexistence Agreement for Trademarks in South Korea
The amendment to the Trademark Act, which allows the Coexistence Agreement for trademarks, was passed by the National Assembly on October 6, 2023. Under the current 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…
01 September 2023
Changes in Accelerated Examination and Patent Term Adjustment in Korea (Effective January 1, 2024)
On August 24, 2023, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced a bill revising the Enforcement Decrees of the Korean Patent Act and the Korean Utility Model Act, with key revisions of (i) reducing options for requesting accelerated examination and (ii) expanding delays attributable to the applicant that are excluded from the calculation of patent term adjustment (PTA). …
01 June 2023
Korea Relaxes Design Filing Procedures for Related Applications, Grace Period for Novelty Claims and Priority Claims
The Korean National Assembly has approved a bill to amend the Korean Design Protection Act (“Design Act”) on May 25, 2023, in order to facilitate obtaining and protecting their design rights for design holders. The amendments address several procedural shortcomings in the current Design Act that have impeded design holders from effectively safeguarding their rights. The current Design …
17 August 2022
IPTAB’s Favorable Decision on Inventive Step of Laser Device with the focus mechanism
The subject invention related to a laser device in which a lasing material is an organic material. The Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (IPTAB) reversed the Final Rejection of the subject invention determining that the subject invention has an inventive step over prior art references (“D1” to “D3"). In the decision, the IPTAB conceded Lee International’s arguments th…
19 April 2022
Expanded opportunities for acquiring IP rights in Korea to take effect on April 20, 2022
Further to our newsletter in September 2021, the revised Korean Patent/Trademark/Design Acts including the following noteworthy changes will take effect on April 20, 2022. A. [Patent/Trademark/Design] The statutory period for appealing a Final Rejection is extended to three (3) monthsUnder the revised Acts, the statutory period for appealing a Final Rejection is ext…
06 December 2021
Lee International successfully defended a patented invention in a trial for patent cancellation by proving theoretical and mathematical differences of probability of success for correcting wafer position between the patented invention and the Cited Reference
The IPTAB had previously determined indicated that the patented invention, which is directed to a novel mechanism for correcting the position of a wafer in a wafer transfer device, lacks an inventive step over the Cited Reference, and thus, the subject patent should be cancelled. Based on the thorough analysis of the Cited reference, Lee International argued during a technical he…
27 August 2021
IPTAB recognized the inventive step of a laser processing method invention
The subject invention relates to a laser processing method and a laser processing apparatus for forming a laser processed hole, a conclusive final rejection was issued by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) on the basis that the subject invention lacks an inventive step over the prior art references (“D1” and “D2”). However, LEE INTERNATIONAL successfully convinced the Intellectual Prop…
05 August 2021
IPTAB’s Favorable Decision on Inventive Step of PCG and ECG Analysis Technology using Portable Sensor Device
The invention in question relates to a method of analyzing phonocardiogram (PCG) data and electrocardiogram (ECG) data obtained from a portable sensor device. The claimed invention is characterized by dividing phonocardiogram data and electrocardiogram data in time segments, discarding low quality time segments and determining whether the heart is considered to need further examination based…
30 July 2021
Scope of Refund of Examination Fees Expanded in Korea
A bill revising the Korean Patent Act was passed on July 23, 2021, expanding the scope of refund of examination fees.In Korea, when filing a request for examination of a patent application, an applicant pays official fees, which are calculated based on the number of claims. Under the current Patent Act, the official examination fees are limitedly refunded if the applicant files a request for…
