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| PATENT |
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| Is a Dosage Regimen Patentable? Yes, Says the Korean Supreme Court |
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| Korean courts have long held that a known drug treating a known disease with a new dosage regimen is not patentable subject matter. In a significant en banc decision, the Korean Supreme Court reversed this entrenched precedent, and settled debate on an aspect of Korean patent law involving pharmaceutical inventions.
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| New Law Regarding 12-Month Grace Period and Divisional Practice |
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| The amendments to Korean patent prosecution procedures by (i) reducing procedural requirements for obtaining the grace period for public disclosures and (ii) extending the deadline for filing divisional applications became effective on July 29, 2015.
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| Time for Refund of KIPO Examination Fees Extended |
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| Under a recent amendment to the Korean Patent Act (KPA), examination fees paid to the Korean Intellectual Property Office for a patent application are refundable if the application is withdrawn or abandoned in writing before undergoing substantive examination. The amendment (effective May 18, 2015) thus provides more time for applicants to request a refund of examination fees beyond one (1) month period from filing an application under the previous KPA.
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| Court Confirms Patentee and Attorney May Be Liable for Damages for Cease & Desist Letters to Accused Infringer's Customers |
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| The Seoul Central District Court recently rendered a decision ordering compensation for damages due to negligent business interference resulting from infringement warning letters the patentee sent to a competitor's customers. This confirms the long-held understanding of the Korean legal community that such letters involve substantial risks to patentees.
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| Supreme Court Rules Employee Invention Remuneration Is Non-Taxable Other Income |
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| Recently, the Korean Supreme Court determined that an institute's payments to its inventor-employees based on the institute's royalty income derived from the employees' in-service inventions are deemed compensation for in-service inventions under Article 15 of the Invention Promotion Act and thus non-taxable other income under Article 12, Subsection 5(d)(i) of the Personal Income Tax Law, regardless of whether the payments were made regularly or repeatedly.
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| Amendment to Regulations on Export Control of Strategic Goods |
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| The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy amended the Regulations on Export Control of Strategic Goods on July 20, 2015.
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| TRADEMARK, COPYRIGHT & UNFAIR COMPETITION |
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| The Supreme Court Says Titles of Musical Productions May Be Protectable as Source Identifiers |
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| Under Korean practice, the titles of books and music albums generally are not protectable as trademarks, unless a title is used for a series of works. While titles for musical productions generally also have been considered not protectable as trademarks for similar reasons, no exceptions to that rule have been recognized, until now. In a recent case involving the well-known Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "CATS," the Supreme Court held that the title of a production can be protectable under the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act if the production has been staged enough times to cause its title to become associated with the particular party or parties who have been responsible for the production.
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IPT Takes Weakly Distinctive Elements into Account in Similarity Analysis
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| When examining the similarity between two marks, Korean administrative bodies and occasionally Korean courts have a tendency to mechanically disregard the non-distinctive or weakly distinctive portions of the marks in order to concentrate their analysis on comparing the remaining distinctive portions. This tendency is quite strong at the Korean Intellection Property Office (KIPO), which rarely deviates from this practice. A more flexible approach was displayed in a recent decision by the Intellectual Property Tribunal of KIPO, which may signal a change of attitude regarding this issue.
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