The Republic of Korea Joined the Patent Cooperation Treaty ("PCT"), Chapter I in 1984 and Chapter II in 1990. Therefore, an international application under the PCT can be filed directly with KIPO or the International Bureau of WIPO.

In designating the Republic of Korea, special attention needs to be paid to avoid an unintended designation of KP (Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or North Korea), or vice versa.

Although confirmation of precautionary designations may be made within 15 months from the priority date (pursuant to Rule 4.9(b) of the PCT Regulations), such erroneous designation occurs and is found too late to be corrected, as such discovery is often made when the national phase is about to be entered in the Republic of Korea. This is a very serious problem given that there is no recourse to file the patent application again in the Republic of Korea as a national application, since the application would have already been published by WIPO, destroying the novelty of the invention.

1. Filing of International Application in the Republic of Korea

An international application can be filed with KIPO by a citizen of the Republic of Korea or a foreigner having an address or a place of business in the Republic of Korea. The applicant must submit to the Commissioner of KIPO a request form, description, claims, drawings (if any) and abstract which are to be prepared in Korean or English or Japanese . In the request form, the countries in which the patent is to be protected must be designated.

  In order for an international application filed under the PCT designating the Republic of Korea ("KR") to enter into the national phase, the following documents must be submitted to KIPO within 20 months (under PCT Chapter I), or 30 months (under Chapter II), from the priority date.

ⅰ. an application stating the name and address of the inventor and the applicant, the date of     submission, the title of the invention and priority data (if the right of priority is claimed):

ⅱ. a Korean translation of the description, claims, text matter of drawings and abstract of the     international application as filed;

ⅲ. drawing(s), if they contain translated text matter, and

ⅳ. a power of attorney, if necessary.

If any amendment to the international application has been added with the International Bureau of WIPO or with the International Preliminary Examining Authority during the international phase, a Korean translation of the amendment should also be submitted at the time of entering into the national phase in the Republic of Korea.

According to patent practice in the Republic of Korea, the national phase must be entered with an exact Korean translation of the original international application as initially filed. Therefore, an amendment which has not been formally effective during the international phase cannot be filed at the time of entering into the national phase. It can, however, be submitted at a later time, after the national phase has commenced, e.g., after the official filing certificate has been received from KIPO.

If the right of priority is claimed in an international application, a Korean translation of the priority application should be submitted to KIPO within two months after KIPO has notified the applicant of receipt of a copy of the priority application forwarded from the International Bureau.