Let's continue the discussion on “Introduction to Intellectual Property and Understanding Intellectual Property”. Among them, today we will look at the “overseas patent application system”.
1. Determining factors for overseas application
1) Market: It is desirable to consider the existing and potential markets. For most products, there is a tendency to choose the United States first because the United States is the largest global market.
2) Manufacturing country: Select the country where there is a company capable of producing competitive products. Obtaining a patent in a major manufacturing country can prevent the manufacture of infringing products, so it has the advantage of overpowering competitors at a relatively low cost.
3) Time and cost: Consider the time and cost from filing a patent application to registration, and the lifetime of the product.
4) Validity and effectiveness of patent rights: The criteria for determining patentability and whether or not patents can be actually protected differ from country to country, so these must be also taken into consideration.
2. Routes of overseas application
1) Application in individual countries based on the Paris Convention: This is a method of filing an individual application in the desired country within one year of filing in Korea. In this case, even for patents registered in other countries, under the Paris Convention priority system, the applicant is treated as of the filing date of the domestic application.
2) International patent application based on PCT: When submitting documents based on the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) to the Korean Intellectual Property Office and designating the countries in which you wish to apply for a patent, a patent application in the designated countries is recognized. However, it is important to note that filing a PCT application does not mean that you can obtain an international patent that can be effective worldwide, and that you must enter within the prescribed period for each country. The advantage of filing a PCT application is that it is possible to determine the patentability in advance through the international preliminary examination, and since 30 months is given, the country in which the patent is to be finally registered can be selected in consideration of the market situation, thereby reducing the cost. Conversely, the disadvantage is that the total initial cost increases because the cost of entering each country and the cost of international filing are required. The PCT application first prepares an international application consisting of an application, specification, claims, drawings, and abstract, and goes through an international search period in which prior art related to the international application is searched by an international search agency. The international examination report is prepared and submitted based on the results of the investigation by an international searching organization, and the application is published internationally at the international bureau. Next, it goes through the domestic stage of submitting a prescribed fee and translation to each country through an international preliminary examination based on the novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability of the invention. The translation submission date is 30 months if a preliminary review is requested and 20 months if no request is made.
Today, we learned about the “overseas patent application system”. Next, we will discuss the “overseas design application system”.
*I am a student learning IP, not an IP expert. Translation is also by Google translator and my insufficient English skills. I hope it will be helpful for those who do not have the relevant knowledge or who want to learn about IP.
*The above is what I learned from a book compiled by the Korean Intellectual Property Office and Korea Invention Promotion Association (published by Pakmungak) entitled “Introduction to Intellectual Property, Understanding Intellectual Property”.
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