The deadline is 31 months from the earliest priority date of the PCT application.

Not all patent applications are prosecuted in Korea. If you wish to obtain a patent in Korea, you should request the examination of the application. The request for examination may be deferred until 3 years from the international filing date, not from the national entry date. If you do not request the examination by then, the national phase application will be deemed to be withdrawn.

No. The Korean Intellectual Property Office does not apply the restoration of the right of priority pursuant to PCT Rule 26bis. Therefore, the international filing date must be within 1 year from the earliest priority date, considering the exception of weekends and holidays.

You may change the record of the application (PCT/IB/306 form) or provide us with an assignment document duly notarized and translated into English.

The notice of acceptance (not a notice of allowance) is issued after the earlier date of (1) the end of the 31-month period (from the earliest priority date) and (2) the date of the request for examination.

A power of attorney duly executed by the applicant is mandatory. Unless it is a “General” Power of Attorney, it may be sent to us via email. Please refer to the link: /downloadable-docs/

If the applicant is an individual, his or her nationality certificate and signature certificate (alternatively, passport) are required. If the applicant is a non-individual entity, no such certificates are required.

We usually provide email and fax services but use a courier only when the document to be sent is in paper form, for example, certificates issued by the Korean Intellectual Property Office. If you would not mind, we prefer to send a written document signed by the attorney to you via email and fax. Otherwise, you may request us to send courier mails to you at your cost.

Please provide us with a certified copy of the priority document or a scanned copy thereof. If the responsible examiner requests a Korean translation thereof, the translation fee for the priority document may be charged additionally.

If you are an applicant or right-holder, the invoice should always be paid before our corresponding tasks. Otherwise, if you are a legitimate intellectual property agent (such as a patent attorney or IP law firm) in your jurisdiction, the invoice should be paid within 2 months from its issue date. In any case, if our service is the first time for you, the invoice should be paid before our first task for you.

When the deadline is overdue, we always reserve our right to withdraw or abandon the corresponding applications or rights to get a refund from the Korean Intellectual Property Office and do not assume responsibility for the consequences. In such a case, we usually provide a grace period for your convenience.

Yes, but only when a request for the Korean national phase entry is filed within 1 month before the deadline (i.e., 30 months to 31 months from the earliest priority date), the late submission at additional costs is allowed up to one month from the deadline.