Korea has the first-to-file rule. All unexamined applications are automatically published after 18 months from the filing date in Korea or the earliest priority date in a foreign country. In addition, after a patent application is granted and the patent is registered, the granted specification shall be published. As a third party observation, once an unexamined patent specification has been published, any party may submit any relevant information relating to the patentability of the application to KIPO in order to prevent granting a patent thereof. The third party may not reveal their indent through a straw man action.
In other side, an applicant may warn in writing an alleged infringer about possible infringement of the claimed invention after his application has been published. And the applicant may obtain reasonable compensation of damage from the alleged infringer. A reasonable amount of compensation will be determined from the date of receipt of the warning letter. The compensation, however, can be collected only after the registration of the patent application
A patent application will be examined only when an applicant requests the examination of the application within 5 years of the filing date in Korea or the international filing date for a PCT route application. If no request for examination is made by the deadline, the application is deemed to have been withdrawn.
A registered patent may be invalidated only through an invalidation proceeding in KIPO. Because the IPT in KIPO has exclusive jurisdiction on the invalidation trial, an infringement court case may not invalidate the subject patent.
Patent
Prosecution Process
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