Novelty: Requirement that invention must not be disclosed before the application date
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
Regulations recognized as exception 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.
Creativity: The requirement that the person with general knowledge in the technological area of the invention cannot easily invent from existing technologies publicly known before the application of the invention
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
First-to-file requirement (First-to-file system): In case of equivalent inventions, the patent right on the invention is granted to the person who applied first
