Many food products contain known ingredients, rather than novel ingredients, as essential components. Such food products are usually a result of combining components in a special ratio to achieve a particular flavour, taste, ef…READ MORE

In Korea, plants can be protected by both Patent Law and Plant Variety Protection Law. Activities to seek the protection of the IP rights pertaining to plants have been growing, particularly with the development of genetic engi…READ MORE

From January 1 this year, the Korean Patent Court became the exclusive appellate court for IP related cases (see February issue). After this change, the Patent Court released some guidelines on the rules and procedures applicab…READ MORE

The Korean Patent Act has been revised twice in the year 2016 and the revisions are quite substantial. Some of the new revisions will become effective from June 30 2016 and others from March 1 2017. The major revisions include …READ MORE

Recently, the Korean Supreme Court made a key decision regarding how to read the prior art when making an inventive step determination (2013 Hu 2873 and 2880 (consolidated), January 14 2016).In Korea, a broad range of prior art …READ MORE

Three years ago, Korea adopted a new patent term adjustment (PTA) system. As many readers know, PTA is a system that allows extension of a patent term to the patent owner to compensate for an unreasonable delay during the prose…READ MORE

In 2016, Korea has been substantially re-shaping its IP system. One such change is the Trade Mark Act, which has been comprehensively re-drafted. One of the main changes in trade mark is the non-use cancellation of the register…READ MORE

Does exporting parts or components of a patented product for final assembly outside the country infringe the patent? Recently, the Korean Supreme Court answered this question for the first time in Korea in its decision 2014Da42…READ MORE

Following theMyriaddecision in the United States, the High Court of Australia recently denied the patent eligibility of isolated genes of BRCA1 DNA. Along with theAlicedecision from the United States, this is truly a new wave. …READ MORE

On January 1 2016, the IP enforcement system in Korea changed significantly. By amending the Civil Procedure Act and the Court Organisation Act, Korea centralised the jurisdiction of both the first instance and the appellate co…READ MORE