What is a patent?

Patent rights are the representative rights of industrial property rights ensuring implementation of exclusive patent invention of an owner of a patent right and a patentee can get ahead of the competition with competitors with a strong weapon called patent rights and since even property revenue acts such as transfer of patent rights or setting license or pledge etc. are guaranteed legally, the power of the ruling over intangible assets called patent invention divided from tangible personal property can be realized efficiently.

A person who can obtain a patent

In principle, an inventor has the right to receive a patent. But, even if a person is not an inventor, a person who has succeeded the right to receive a patent from the inventor by legal procedures has the right to receive a patent.

Technology which can obtain a patent

A technology that can show technical effects and can be used in the industry by using creative ideas and laws of nature can be patented. Application invention should meet legal patent requirements such as establishment of invention, industrial applicability, novelty, progressivity etc. Specifically, patent requirements differ slightly depending on the type of invention so every invention should be judged individually whether the invention meets the patent requirements. On the other hand, prior to patent application, it is desirable to apply a patent only when worth of patent is acknowledged to some extent through materials research on presence of prior technology and application feasibility study of prior invention.

Materials required for patent application

Patent application, statements, drawings, power of attorney, fees, withholding implementation status notice for fee exemption, business registration certificate, personal information of inventor

Patent application examination

Examination is not initiated for all applied inventions for patent application. Only if there is the request for examination about the invention applied, examination is initiated according to priority of request for examination.

On the other hand, Patent and Trademark Office examiner takes charge in this examination and general public may be indirectly involved in examination as the subject of information provided during examination process. Even though applied first, if request for examination is late, the ranking of examination initiation may be late. An examiner sends a notice of preliminary comments for examination results and reasons for refusal should be stated in this notice.

An applicant tries to overcome the reasons for refusal indicated by going through post-procedures such as a written opinion, amendment, split, change application etc. to overcome reasons for refusal pointed out by an examiner. Despite the efforts of the applicant to overcome these reasons for refusal, if the elements not meeting the requirements of a patent still remain, an examiner conducts decision of rejection, one of final measures of examination.
For it, the applicant can appeal to Judgment, Patent Court, the Supreme Court sequentially. In contrast, the examination results of an examiner showed that patent application invention was applied in accordance with a certain way and procedure and more reasons for refusal cannot be found, a patent must be determined.

First investigation system

This is the system to examine application requiring emergency treatment or conducted without permission by others after application prior to other applications regardless of the order of request for examination.

First investigation is made by application in the following cases.
Application recognized to be conducted without permission by a third party
Defense industry applications,
As Application directly related to green technology, application corresponding to any one of the following,
Application directly related to the promotion of exports,
Application about job of state or local governments
Venture companies or INNO-related application,
Application on the outcome of the national new technology development support business such as industry-based technology development projects etc.,
Application on the results of national quality certification business,
Application that procedures are in progress in Foreign Patent and Trademark Office due to overseas application,
Self-conducted or self-conducted preparing application
Patent application directly related to electronic trading,
Utility model registration application with request for first investigation within 2 month after request for examination simultaneously with application
Application by patent examination highway,
Application requesting prior technology investigation to professional organizations

Patent registration

If an examiner determines a patent and you pay patent right setting registration fees within a certain period of time, the chief of the Korean Intellectual Property Office registers setting ex officio and the patent rights arise. If not paying patent setting registration fees during legal payment period including follow-up payment period, patent application will be deemed abandoned so extreme caution is required for paying patent setting registration fees.

Registration application procedures

Payment of first 3-year registration fees ? A patent is registered only when you pay first 3-year registration fees to the Registration division of the Korean Intellectual Property Office within 3 months from the date of the patent decision. Additional payment - When you did not pay registration fees within three months, you can pay them during additional payment period of 6 months given additionally (But, paying registration fees twice).

Paying the annual fee for the maintenance of a patent

From fourth-year registration fees, a rightful person must pay fees voluntarily before a new year is started.

Right duration period

20 years from application date

What is design registration?

Design means “form, shape, color of goods or a thing combining them and causing an esthetic sense through vision.” To put it simply, design refers to goods with a specific shape or form. In one word, design is goods with specific shape or form, color etc. The thing that we usually call ‘graphic design’ can be an element of design but is not goods so it cannot be design by itself.
This graphic becomes design when combined with any goods. Therefore, despite the same design, design stamped on fabric and design stamped on wallpaper are different. That is, if graphic is the same but goods are different, it is a different design. Also, architectural design is also important in design but buildings cannot be design. The real estate is the goods, the target of design and is not visible. But, even if architectural structures, telephone booths, bungalows or prefabs etc. that can be mass-produced and transported can be said to be design.

Design registration application method

You need to submit certain documents with certain fees to the Korean Intellectual Property. Design focuses on expression form and the contents of design are materialized and specified so drawings in the design are very important in examination process as well as interpretation of the right scope.

Basic drawings are 6-side drawing (front view, rear view, left right side view, floor plan, base drawing) by orthographic view method and isometric projection and in case of same symmetry, one of rear view and side view and base drawing can be omitted. Also, in case of two dimensional design such as fabrics etc., only surface drawing and two-view drawing are necessary but if two-view has no shape, a two-view drawing can be omitted. When basic drawings alone cannot fully express design, you can submit planar figure, cross-sectional drawing and reference drawing etc. You must state goods of design target, point of creative contents and explanation on design etc. in the drawing. You must state the name or address etc. of the creator along with the name or address etc. of the applicant in the application.

But, even if you prepare these application documents well and apply before others, all are not registered. Application with certain requirements can be only registered and the design law prescribes these registration requirements in detail. You can go through these application procedures by yourself but generally, application procedures are processed through a patent attorney. Because it is very hard for non-specialists to make a legal decision on making drawings or registration requirements and respond to it after receiving a written opinion submit notification from a Patent and Trademark Office examiner etc.

Materials required for patent application

Drawing or photos (6-side drawing+ perspective view) of the target of design registration, power of attorney, fees, withholding implementation status notice for fee exemption, business registration certificate, personal information of inventor

Setting registration

If an examiner determines registration and you pay design right setting registration fees within a certain period of time, the chief of the Korean Intellectual Property Office registers setting ex officio and the design right arise.
If not paying setting registration fees during legal payment period including follow-up payment period, design registration application will be deemed abandoned so extreme caution is required for paying design right setting registration fees.

Registration application procedures

Payment of first 3-year registration fees ? Design is registered only when you pay first 3-year registration fees to the Registration division of the Korean Intellectual Property Office within 3 months from the date of the patent decision.
Additional payment - When you did not pay registration fees within three months, you can pay them during additional payment period of 6 months given additionally (But, paying registration fees twice).

Paying the annual fee for the maintenance of design right

From fourth-year registration fees, a rightful person must pay fees voluntarily before a new year is started

Right duration period

20 years from registration date

What is trademark?

The term “trademark” means a mark used to distinguish goods of one business from those of others under Article 2, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1 of the Korean Trademark Act. The term “mark” means all indications used to identify the source of goods, irrespective of the composition or methods of the expression thereof, which include any sign, letter, figure, sound, smell, three-dimensional shape, hologram, movement, color, etc.

Typically, trademarks are displayed as a sign, a letter or a combination of these elements, but there are smell and sound marks. When consumers can recognize goods definitely by means of smell or sound (namely, if the smell and the sound being distinctive), the smell or the sound can be registered as trademarks.

There are legal and technical problems in which it is difficult to protect all indications used to identify the source of goods as trademarks. Therefore, the development of expression medium, trade situation and international trend are reflected in the current Korean Trademark Act so that it defines a mark in a more comprehensive and illustrative way. Additionally, it defines all indications used to identify the source of goods, as the subjects for legal protection. A trademark is typically limited to a sign, letter, figure, three-dimensional shape, or a combination of these elements, and those marks combined with color. However, such amendment of the Trademark Act makes it possible to protect the unconventional trademarks such as those based on smell and sound.

On the other hand, a mark which is not used to distinguish goods of one business from those of others cannot be regarded as a ‘trademark’. Despite a mark is used on goods, the mark is a kind of design used to simply bring about an aesthetic sensibility of the goods, or a kind of price indication irrespective of the intention to distinguish goods of one business from those of others.

What is copyright?

The term copyright reminds us of ‘poem’ or ‘novel’, ‘song’, ‘drawing’ etc. but in fact, works are very broad concept.
When expressed in professional terms, works can be said to be ones containing a person's thoughts or feelings in a certain format and making others feel and realize them. According to Article 2 of copyright law, works are creative works belonging to the range of literature, academic or art. They are prescribed fairly comprehensively.
But, when called works, it is easy to think ‘novels’, ‘collection of poems’ or ‘drawings’ or ‘records’ etc. as works but strictly speaking, those are not works but just means of expressing works.

Novels or drawings, records etc. are not works but containers or formats containing works.

Works are mental things contained in the format, that is, invisible things. These are target of copyright protection. In some cases, it is difficult to distinguish works from containers containing works.Since art works can be appreciated by the original itself, it is easy to think original itself as art works. However, strictly speaking, the original itself is just what a work is expressed. For example, even if a painter sold his/her painting original to any person, it does not mean that he/she transferred his/her work. Transferring a work, in other words, transfers copyright and this means that copyright transfer agreement should be concluded separately.

If a person stole a novel from a bookstore to read it or gave it to another person, this act stole a tangible copy called book, that is, stole property and is not a copyright infringement. Therefore, since he/she infringed property rights, he/she has committed a criminal larceny and civil illegal acts.

On the other hand, if a person borrows a book from his/her friend and then returns it to the friend again after tens of copies with it, this act is not infringement of general property rights but he/she infringed the right for woks so it is copyright infringement and therefore, he/she will receive civil ? criminal punishment as set forth in copyright law.

Article 4 of copyright law exemplifies literary works such as Novels, poems, papers, plays, screenplay etc., music works, theatrical works including plays and dance, pantomime etc., paintings, calligraphy, sculpture, crafts, applied art works, other works of art, buildings, architectural works including blueprints and architectural models, photographic works, video works, diagrammatic works such as maps, charts, blueprints, rough maps, and models etc., computer program works etc. as works and says that copyright protection extends to such works.

However, the scope to be protected as works is not limited to these example works. As cultural ? arts activities increase and technology advances, new works will continue to increase in the future.

Again, works are all creative works of human belong to the scope of literature, learning or art and are expressed as paintings, musical scores, and other tangibles and the express itself is not a work but expression type of a work.
And a right for these works is copyright.

Registration target

Target of copyright registration is works and refers to ones showing tangible form as creative works belonging to the scope of literature, learning, art and the examples are novels, musical compositions, scenarios, characters, and artwork etc.

Materials required for copyright registration

Work reproductions, work statements, registration tax, certificate of the first publication date, power of attorney

Registration Procedures

Receiving application ? If an applicant submits several documents required such as copyright registration application form, reproductions etc. to Copyright Division of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the person in charge in Copyright Division reviews and checks if there is no inadequacy of documents and then receives documents.

Registration - Registration is done by stating registration matters in Copyright Division of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism after going through review, approval of the documents.

Issuing registration certificate - Copyright Division of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issues copyright registration certificate to a person who completed registration to prove it (within approximately 10 days from application date).