Invention not disclosed by notifying, or sharing with unspecified persons, publishing on publications or disclosing by
electric communication line (Cause of refusal by loss of novelty)

Disclosure by others as well as inventor himself corresponds to loss of novelty

Exception of public disclosure: In case there is special cause of exception of autonomous announcement of inventor before application, the intent shall be submitted to the Korean Intellectual Property Office with the application of patent within 1 year of announcement, and submit the evidence within 30 days.

In case disclosure is more than twice before application, all disclosure activities must be submitted to the Korean Intellectual Property Office.

In case of overseas application, countries like US and Japan allow exception of public disclosure of 1 year and 6 months respectively, however, as the disclosure such as announcement of theses before application is not allowed in countries like Europe and China, it is ideal to apply for patent before announcement of these if possible.

As exception of disclosure is not exception on the enlarged concept, it may be refused on the grounds of breach of enlarged concept if the equivalent invention is applied by others before applying for patent after announcement.

If the suggestion or motivation for transforming prior technology is inherent in the prior technology

If it is mere addition of well-known or commonly used technology

If it is mere simple combination of publicly known technologies

If the composition of publicly known technology has been substituted or redirected

Natural law itself (Energy conservation law)

Anything not using natural law (Economic law, game rule, spiritual activity of human)

Item that already exists in the nature or simple discovery of law

Anything against nature law (perpetual motion machine)

Anything that cannot be repeated (Anything without concreteness or objectivity)

Anything without concrete means or that is impossible to solve task

Invention without industrial use
Method of surgery, treatment or diagnosis on human (Medical devices are accepted) Invention without use as job (Experimental, or academic use) Method clearly impossible realistically

Patent Application: Write application form and apply for patent in writing or online.

Request for Examination (Article 59 of Patent Law): A procedure of applying for examination of patent requirements ofrapplied invention on satisfaction of patent requirements that can be applied by applicant or third party. It is considered that the application is cancelled if the request for examination is not made within 5 years from application date.

Laying-open of application: The content of invention is disclosed to the public forcibly after 1 year and 6 months from application date. (Early disclosure is possible according to the intention of applicant.)

Office action: According to application of examination, examiner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office examines on the patent requirements, and if cause of refusal that does not satisfy patent requirements is found, office action is sent to applicant and the opportunity to state an opinion is given.

Write letter of opinion/supplementary statement: Letter of opinion or supplementary statement on the opinion of applicant himself can be submitted on the office action, and the examiner shall reexamine on the resolution of cause of refusal.

Decision to grant/refuse patent: As a result of examination, if patent requirements are satisfied or cause of refusal is resolved, the decision to grant patent is given, and if cause of refusal is not resolved, decision to refuse patent is given.

Request for reexamination/appeal against decision of refusal: On the refusal decision of examiner, the request for reexamination can be requested with supplementation within 30 days from delivery of refusal decision, or request for appeal against decision of refusal to the Intellectual Property Tribunal.

Payment of registration fee/registration of establishing patent right: Within 3 months from delivery of patent decision, establishment registration fee and registration fee for 1-3 years are paid altogether, and from the fourth year of registration, the patent maintenance fee (annual registration fee) must be paid.

A policy that allows advance application on the idea stage of invention followed by modified, materialized or supplemented invention within 1 year (Previously applied technology is retroactively applied to the initial application date during examination of patent requirement.)

Patent is first-to-file system to prevent breach of right from advance application of third party.

Supplement time difference from the idea stage of invention to completion

Utilize modified invention

※ For domestic priority claims, as the previously applied basic patent application is cancelled, the basic patent application will not be requested for examination.

Application in each country (Paris Convention)
Paris convention is a policy that retroactively applies the application date of the second country to the application date of first country when the priority is claimed based on the application in first country among countries of Paris Convention and applies to the other country (second country) within 1 year of application in first country. Hence, overseas application with priority claim within 1 year of application in Korea is possible.

PCT International Application
PCT international application is a method of acquiring application effect in approximately 146 countries on treaty by submitting a single application form according to Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). In case of application with priority claim, the PCT international application must be made within 1 year of prior application date. PCT international application procedure: By submitting the international application form written in international application langauge (Korean, English, Japanese, etc.) to Receiving Office (RO: Korean Intellectual Property Office, International Bureau, etc.), the international application date is recognized, and enter each country via international search, international publication and international preliminary examination (selective). After PCT international application, the designated country must be selected within approximately 30 months (or approximately 31 months from prior application date) to carry out application in individual country in the same process as direct application.

※ Advantages of PCT international application policy
Reduction of fee when entering domestic stage: Major patent offices worldwide reduce domestic patent fee according to certain conditions when foreigner enters domestic stage through PCT international application. Enhanced possibility of registration: Possibility of registration in designated country is increased or examination period is reduced. Take advantage in consultation by securing time to search for technology consumer and granting right to choose individual country to technology consumer.

Disadvantages of PCT international application policy
PCT international application does not guarantee effectiveness in all countries on treaty, and application to individual country is required until the entry deadline in each country. Hence, if application in individual country is made in 2 or less countries, it is ideal to use the priority right of Paris Convention. (Save PCT international application fee.)