IP Newsletter | Winter 2014/15
	PATENT
	Official Fees Proposed Relating to Liberalized Use of Original Foreign Language Specification
	Back in June of this year, President Park signed into law the Amendments to the Korean Patent Act to better harmonize Korea's patent procedures with other member states under the Patent Law Treaty. Most of the changes in the Amendments will go into effect on January 1, 2015 (for more details on the Amendments please see our Summer/Fall 2014 newsletter here). Although the fee changes associated with the Amendments have not been finalized yet, a number of relevant fee changes are worth noting to remind those who file in Korea that they are expected to go into effect soon. Official Fee for Foreign Language Patent Applications Under the amended Korean Patent Act (Article 42-3), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) will begin accepting applications in languages other than Korean. However, for now, English is the only language accepted, other than Korean. With this new change, an Official Fee for filing a foreign language patent application has been proposed. The proposed Official fees are KRW 73,000 (approx. USD 69.00) for electronically filed applications and KRW 93,000 (approx. USD 88.00) for paper filings. The justification for this additional fee is that the foreign language patent application is expected to increase the workload, e.g., publication, management of the Korean translation. Official Fee for Correcting Korean Translations Under the Amendments (Articles 42-3(6) and 201(6) of the Korean Patent Act), the proper basis for amending the specification of a Korean application will now be the "original" foreign language specification, not the Korean translation. This new change to the Korean Patent Act is expected to significantly benefit foreign applicants, who will now be able to correct typographical errors or translation errors made in the process of translating a PCT international application or originally filed foreign application into Korean and thereby better protect the full scope of their patent rights. Requests for correcting Korean translation errors under the Amendments will also incur an Official fee. The proposed Official fee for electronically filing a request for correcting translation errors is KRW 71,000 (approx. USD 67.00), and an additional KRW 22,000 for each claim (approx. USD 21.00 each). A paper filing of the request is expected to be about KRW 91,000 (approx. USD 86.00), and an additional KRW 22,000 for each claim (approx. USD 21.00 each). The cost for correcting translation errors is about 50 % of the current Official fee for filing a request for examination. A fee is proposed for correcting translation errors because the examiner will need to determine whether the correction is valid based on a comparison with the originally-filed foreign language document. Official Fee for Extension of Time to Submit Korean Translations Article 201(1) of the Amendments now provide for an additional one-month extension beyond the 31-month deadline from the priority date for submitting a Korean translation of a PCT application. In other words, an applicant will now have up to 32 months from the priority date to submit the Korean translation of a PCT international application entering the Korean national phase. It should be noted, however, that the national phase must still be entered within 31 months. This new change gives foreign applicants extra time to submit the Korean language translation, after the statutory 31-month date. An Official fee of KRW 20,000 (approx. USD 19.00) was proposed for requesting a time extension for submitting the Korean translation of a PCT application entering the national phase. Conclusion The recent Amendments to the Korean Patent Act are a positive step towards harmonizing Korea's patent laws with the member states of the Patent Law Treaty. Overall, the proposed Official fees are relatively low and the added revisions will enable patent applicants, particularly foreign applicants, a better opportunity to fully capture the rights of the originally filed application. Thus, the new changes to the Korean Patent Act is expected to be well-received by foreign applicants.
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	Joon-Hwan KIM jhkim6@ip.kimchang.com Linda A. PARK lapark@ip.kimchang.com Ah-Young KI ayki@ip.kimchang.com
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