KIPO to Expand Eligibility for Preferential Examination The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) has announced a draft outlining plans to expand eligible subjects for Preferential Examination to include Utility Model applications, as well as significantly reduce set conditions for Preferential Examination. In addition, Commissioner Sang Woo Jun says that he plans to expand eligibility even further, allowing more applicants to have their applications examined in advance, regardless of their filing order. In Korea, Utility Model rights are valid for ten years from the application date, which is only half the twenty-year life of a Patent. In addition, roughly two-thirds of all Utility Model applications in Korea are filed by individuals, and many represent technologies with short life-spans. This can have a substantial impact when noting that in General Examination applicants typically wait ten months before receiving the result of the application. In comparison, Preferential Examination results are provided three months from the application date. When considering these factors, KIPO felt it especially necessary that more Utility Model applications be eligible for Preferential Examination. Previously, only applications acknowledged for urgent processing, such as those that would be environmentally beneficial, were subject for Preferential Examination. Documents supporting the application¡¯s eligibility for Preferential Examination would then have to be submitted separately, making the process complicated and inconvenient for individual applicants. The proposed changes would simplify the process by allowing applicants to apply for General Examination as they apply for Utility Model rights. Then, within two months the applicant can request Preferential Examination; however, since the subject matter for Preferential Examination is to be expanded, the applicant would no longer be required to submit evidentiary documents supporting the applications eligibility. One measure already enacted by KIPO to benefit individual applicants is the fixed minimum-fee system for the Preferential Examination of Utility Models, introduced in May of 2006. This changes the cost for Preferential Examination to one single fee, whereas the previous system included a base fee, along with an additional fee per each article in the application. This would cause the cost to escalate as the number of articles increased, making it very costly for an individual applicant. KIPO also plans to introduce this system for the Preferential Examination of Patent applications as well. KIPO looks to implement these proposals by October 1st, 2006, thereby allowing more Utility Model applicants to request Preferential Examination relatively soon. In addition to now being a more convenient process, it is also more cost efficient, to the particular benefit of individual applicants. Written by David Hunjoon Kim and YOU ME Patent & Law Firm