Pact streamlines patent applications for Korea, Japan


Patent applicants will soon be able to log into a cyber patent office that allows access to information on patent deliberations under way at patent offices worldwide.

The Five IP Offices, known as IP5, including the Korea Intellectual Property Office, European Patent Office, Japan Patent Office, State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China and United States Patent and Trademark Office, agreed this week on establishing a Global Dossier, a system to show patent-related information from patent offices all over the world.

Directors of the five offices agreed on KIPO commissioner Kim Ho-won’s suggestion during the IP5 Heads Meeting, which took place from Monday through Wednesday in Corsica, France, to jointly develop a cyber patent office.

Through the Global Dossier system, which will be the core of the cyber office, patent applicants will be able to directly check information online about patent deliberations that are underway throughout the world.

“Patent users may look forward to a double effect of increased convenience and decreased cost, and patent offices will see an enhancement in deliberation quality and efficiency as it will be able to refer to foreign patent deliberation information,” said Kim through a statement after the meeting. 

The number of corresponding patent applications sent into several patent offices throughout the world has been increasing as applicants have to apply to all countries he/she wishes to obtain a patent in, following the territorial principle. Different countries therefore have been setting up systems to share patent deliberation information and enhance efficiency.

When the cyber patent office opens, parts of the patent pending procedure, which are currently done through patent attorneys hired overseas, will be able to be done directly online, saving time and money.

IP5 agreed to first set up a permanent taskforce for the early establishment of the Global Dossier, following KIPO’s suggestion, and vowed to complete the establishment of the Global Dossier by 2016.

Meanwhile, South Korea and Japan agreed on a Patent Cooperation Treaty-Patent Prosecution Highway, a pact which will speed up the international patent-obtaining procedure between the two countries.

Under the PCT-PPH, the patent applicant who obtained a patent at one of the countries will be provided with a fast-track patent examination procedure to more quickly obtain the corresponding patent in the other country. Through the PCT-PPH, officials expect the deliberation process in both Korea and Japan to be shortened by more than a year.

Kim and Yoshiyuki Iwai, commissioner of the Japan Patent Office, signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday during the Korea-Japan head meeting to their pilot program PCT-PPH on July 1.

“Now with the Korea-Japan PCT-PPH deal set, we have signed a PCT-PPH each with the U.S., China and Japan, which are the three countries where about 80 percent of local companies overseas apply to earn patents,” said Kim.

“KIPO will continue to expand PCT-PPH with more countries to support our companies and patent applicants to swiftly obtain patents overseas.”

 By Park Min-young (claire@heraldcorp.com)