Amendment to Preferential Examination System in Patent Application

Patent application is principally examined according to the order of examination-requested date but the Korean Patent Act has provided a preferential examination system for a patent application for an invention which needs to be examined urgently.

The system has continued to exist so far, however as from July 1, 1999, inventions applicable for request for the preferential examination has been greatly expanded and documents for the request have been much simplified. Dark side thereof is however that request fee for the preferential examination is newly introduced on the benefit principle. Applications eligible for the preferential examination request are as below:

1) A patent application for an invention, a utility model or a design application which is believed to be infringed by a third party after the laid-open date of application,

2) An application laid-opened or for which a request for early laid-opening was made, which is concerned on any of the following subparagraphs:

a. Invention for military defense industrial fields

b. Invention useful for pollution prevention which is deemed to be intended mainly for pollution prevention or elimination thereof (for example, facility for noise and vibration prevention, facility for soundproofing, facility for prevention of water pollution, facility for atmospheric pollution prevention, waste disposal facility, facility for sewage purification, facility for livestock waste water purification, facility for excretion disposal, joint disposal facility of livestock waste water, facility for waste oil disposal, recycling facility)

c. Invention directly involved in export promotion

d. Invention made by an employee in State or local government belonging by its nature to the scope of activities thereof

e. Application of a corporation certified as a venture business according to article 25 of Extraordinary Measure Act regarding promotion of venture business

f. Application for resultant matters created by State's new technique development assistance project

g. Application for resultant matters created by State's quality authenti- cation project

h. Application from which the corresponding foreign application has been filed with the Convention priority

i. Invention commercially used or ready to commercial use.

An applicant for a preferential examination shall submit a request for preferential examination and evidential documents with regard to the request of the preferential examination. The KIPO shall examine legality of the request in case of there being a request for a preferential examination, to notify the applicant a decision on whether or not the preferential examination will be processed, and shall start examining within two months from the date of notice to the applicant. The same regulation is applied even to a foreign applicant, except for those requirements listed in as d, e, f and h due to their nature.

Foreign Trademark Applications Continuing to Increase This Year

The number of trademark applications from overseas has dramatically increased these days. While the growth rate of those trademark applications had reached around 12 percent per year up to 1997, the rate fell down to ??11 percent during the early part of 1998 when the Korean economy was suffering dearly under the IMF regime. As from early 1999, the increment has become conspicious as the structural reform of Korean corporations almost winds up and thereby the domestic economy keeps recovering. According to a statement by the KIPO, the total number of foreign trademark applications as of June, 1999 is 11,284, which is bigger than that of the same period last year. The growth rate reaches around 23.4 percent.

This phenomenon is viewed as an index to support the fact that rush of foreign companies into Korean markets is accelerated by the improved International fidelity to Korea according to the economic recovery on the basis of the restructuring following the economic crisis in Korea. Volume of applications for trademarks is generally more sensitively affected by the economic situation than that of other intellectual properties and thereby the growth rate of trademark applications is regarded as a business preceding index for domestic economic growth. Accordingly, it seems that the increase of foreign trademark applications is very encouraging to the Korean economic recovery.

With regard to foreign trademark applications per country, the filings from U.S.A. are the highest, followed by Japan, Germany, France and Switzerland in that order. Filings from these five countries cover about 80 percent as a whole. As a result, it is analyzed that these five countries are still strongly intended to extend their business to the Korean market.

In conclusion, growth of the foreign trademark applications are to be further accelerated as the Korean economy is restored in earnest.

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"" v. "DURA5" Decided Dissimilar to Each Other

The mark of "" , which is composed of a total of 10 Latin letters including uniquely stylized "A", has been decided by the Korea Supreme Court as being dissimilar to a prior mark of "DURA5".

According to a verdict by the judges, even though the stylized "A" is outstanding in this mark, it is hardly believed that the "" mark is divided into "DURA" and "SHOCKS" as the mark is inseparable in terms of concept, and pronunciation as well. The part of "DURA" seems to be indistinctive while the remaining part of "SHOCKS" is likely to be more attractive. Given the above, it is decided that the prior mark of "DURA5", which is read as [dju r faiv] or [durao] in Korean, is differentiated from the "".