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…
28 May 2021
LEE INTERNATIONAL successfully argued an inventive step of an invention relating to a memory cell and a memory array by arguing the differences in the technical feature and effect of the inventive arrangements of a magnetic moment from the prior art.
The subject invention relates to a memory cell and a memory array, and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) issued a Decision of Refusal of Amendment asserting that a new ground for inventive step rejection was raised based on the amendment filed along with a request for continued examination. Further, a conclusive Final Rejection was also issued by asserting that the invention in …
19 April 2021
LEE INTERNATIONAL successfully argued no motivation of the combination of a plurality of cited references by presenting the difference in terms of technical problem to be solved before the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (IPTAB).
The application in this case relates to an autonomous driving technology of a vehicle. The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) finally rejected the application for lack of an inventive step over a combination of three cited references (“Cited References 1 to 3”). In response thereto, LEE INTERNATIONAL appealed against the Final Rejection with the IPTAB, which was persuaded by ou…
22 March 2021
Lee International persuaded IPTAB to acknowledge an inventive step of an invention of Organic Laser with the arguments that combining the prior art references is not considered easy when problem-solving principles are different and there are elements hind
The Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (IPTAB) ruled on January 25, 2021 that the invention of a patent application entitled “Organic Laser” (“Subject Application”), which is handled by LEE INTERNATIONAL, has an inventive step. Particularly, the Subject Application was finally rejected for lack of an inventive step by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) twice. Howe…
