Lee International

MOIP Issued Revised “Examination Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Inventions”

According to the Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP)’s Examination Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Inventions, the inventive step of AI-related inventions is generally assessed based on whether one of ordinary skill in the art could have readily derived the invention from the prior art. In principle, inventive step is unlikely to be acknowledged where an invention merely applies well-known AI technology or simply systemizes tasks or business methods previously performed by humans using established AI techniques. By contrast, inventive step may be acknowledged where specific technical features, such as data preprocessing, machine learning methods, or trained models, are clearly defined, and produce a remarkable technical effect that would not have been predicted from the prior art.

Key Changes in KR Patent Examination in 2026

[MOIP Strengthens Examination Capacity and Reduces Pendency] The Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP) announced that it will recruit 34 new patent examiners, primarily in advanced technology fields such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and computing. Following the increase of 165 examiners over the past three years in areas such as semiconductors, secondary batteries, and biotechnology, the MOIP plans to continue expanding its examiner workforce to improve both the quality and speed of patent examination in Korea.

Scleral Laser Microporation with Precisely Controlled Individual Pores acknowledged to have an Inventive Step by the Intellectual Property High Court

Lee International recently secured a favorable ruling from the Intellectual Property High Court (IPHC) (Case No. 2024 Heo 14711) in an appeal of a decision from the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (IPTAB) that had upheld a final rejection of a patent application for a scleral laser microporation system. This decision became final after the defendant, the Minister of Intellectual Property, did not file an appeal with the Supreme Court.

Korea Ranks No. 1 Globally in Ferroelectric Devices Patents for Next-Generation AI Memory

According to an analysis by the Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP, formerly KIPO), patent applications in the field of ferroelectric devices filed with the IP5 offices (Korea, the United States, Japan, the European Union, and China) between 2012 and 2023 show that Korea ranked first, accounting for 43.1% (395 cases) of the total filings based on applicant nationality. In particular, Korea also recorded the highest average annual growth rate of 18.7% in filings, marking the steepest increase among major countries and indicating it growing leadership in next-generation artificial intelligence memory technologies.

Korean Supreme Court Clarifies Standards for Trademark Similarity in Composite Marks

In its recent decision (Supreme Court Case No. 2024Do8174), the Court clarified the standards for determining trademark similarity by: (i) reaffirming the criteria for applying the “principle of overall observation” and “dominant element analysis” in assessing composite marks; (ii) recognizing that multiple dominant elements may coexist where each component possesses distinctiveness; and (iii) elaborating the criteria for identifying dominant elements by taking into account consumers’ actual perception and the market conditions.