IP Newsletter | Spring 2015
	PATENT
	KIPO Introduces New Patent Examination Programs
	The Korean Intellectual Property Office ("KIPO") has recently established a number of patent examination procedures, including preliminary examinations, proposed amendment reviews and batch examination programs, as part of its new patent examination services referred to as "Patent Examination 3.0." These new procedures, a brief introduction of which are provided below, have been implemented by KIPO to improve the agency's interaction with the public, as well as offer accurate examination services customized to meet the needs of applicants. Below is a brief introduction of the preliminary examination and proposed amendment review programs (see "Multiple IP Applications Related to a Single Product May Now be Examined Together" in our Spring 2014 IP Newsletter for details on the batch examination program). 1. Preliminary Examination Program Under the preliminary examination program, applicants are able to discuss the application with the examiner before examination begins. The objective is to encourage more accurate examinations and quicker prosecution times. To be eligible, applicants must first request expedited prosecution. Moreover, the application must involve a high level of technical difficulty according to the IPC (International Patent Classification) listed on KIPO's website. Further, the applicant must file a request for preliminary examination within 14 days of receiving acceptance of the expedited examination request, indicating 3 preferred days (along with the preferred times) for conducting the in-person interview. The interview dates must be within 3 to 6 weeks from the date of request for preliminary examination. The applicant also has the option to submit a preliminary amendment to the examiner before conducting the interview. This program will give applicants an opportunity to help the examiner better understand difficult or complex inventions, hopefully leading to better and faster examination results. 2. Proposed Amendment Review Program Under the proposed amendment review program, the applicant may discuss a proposed amendment through an examiner interview prior to the filing of a response to an office action. The program allows the applicant to submit a proposed amendment before conducting the examiner interview to provide the examiner with time for review and preparation of the applicant's submission. An applicant must file a request for the interview together with the proposed amendment at least one month before the deadline for filing the response. The objective behind this procedure is to improve the chances of the application being allowed and to facilitate a more thoughtful and productive examination of the application. Similar to the preliminary examination program above, the applicant must also indicate 3 preferred days (along with the preferred times) for conducting the in-person interview, which must be within 2 to 3 weeks from the date of the request for the interview. This program may be useful for important applications in which an applicant would like to obtain the examiner's official position on a proposed amendment before filing a response to an office action. However, as discussions during the examiner interviews are recorded and the recordings are made available to the public in the electronic file wrapper, applicants should be careful of the statements made at the interviews in view of estoppel concerns.
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