Korean IP Office Discusses Patent Prosecution Highway

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

25 February 2009

The process of filing international patents is set to become quicker and easier for Korean companies, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) has announced.

The decision was made at the recent Patent Commissioner’s Conference, attended by the patent commissioners of ten major countries, including Korea, the United States, and Japan, which was held on February 19-20 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

At the Conference, the commissioners agreed to pursue full-scale cooperation on building a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) System to expedite international patent filing.

Once a patent is granted in one country, the PPH will allow other countries to use the results of the examination in their own determination.

Applicants will save time and money, and patent offices will increase efficiency and benefit from cooperative examination. To date, ten major countries, including Korea, the United States, and Japan, have implemented the PPH system.

As many as 400,000 out of 2007’s 1.73 million patents were duplicated in more than one country. Therefore, a more effective implementation of the PPH in many countries is expected to reduce examination workloads in individual countries.

Patent commissioners discussed how to expand current bilateral PPHs to multilateral PPH and how to increase system efficiency.

Korean Intellectual Property Office Commissioner Jung-Sik Koh emphasized the need for cooperative examination systems like a multilateral PPH to lessen examination workloads and increase convenience to applicants.

He further urged major developed countries to more actively engage in discussions of the global integration of patent systems.

In addition to this, Commissioner Koh revealed that he had participated in the ‘Korean-Canada Commissioners’ Meeting’ on February 19 with Ms Mary Carman, commissioner of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Both agreed to a working level cooperation on a trial Korea-Canada PPH.

Commissioner Koh commented:

“If it means Korean enterprises can obtain international patents more quickly and easily, I will actively participate in discussions on multilateral PPH. Furthermore, I will work to expand our bilateral PPH with Russia, Germany, and the UK.”

Koh also said he intends to play a leading role in the cooperative patent systems of five developed countries initiated by KIPO last year. He hopes to accelerate efforts on international cooperation to increase patent examination efficiency and quality.

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