Even Large Corporations Can Cut Patent Fees by 50% When Partnering with Small and Medium Enterprises

Adjustment of Patent Fees According to the Submission Method of the Application and the Type of Specification (Draft). Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Large corporations and public research institutions conducting joint research and development with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be able to receive a 50% reduction in patent fees when filing or registering patents for the results obtained.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on the 28th that it will publicly notify a partial amendment draft of the "Rules on Collection of Patent Fees," which includes these provisions.

The amendment is scheduled to take effect on December 8 after the public notice period. This aims to revitalize the research activities of SMEs, which often lack research personnel, and the reduction applies to application fees, examination request fees, registration fees, and others.

Additionally, KIPO explained that when research results such as papers written using commercial software like PDF or Hangul Word Processor (HWP) are electronically filed as provisional specifications, the fees will be lowered to the same level as regular electronic filings prepared with KIPO software.

The amendment also addresses fee deficiencies related to international searches and international preliminary examinations under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system.

Recently, cases have frequently occurred where foreign companies exploit the fact that additional fees for listing multiple inventions in a single international application are relatively low. To address this, additional fees imposed for violating the unity of invention requirement will be charged at the same level as foreign patent offices.

Further details regarding the amendment can be found on the KIPO website or through the National Participation Legislation Center.

Hyun Sung-hoon, Director of the Information Customer Support Bureau at KIPO, stated, "The amendment is being promoted to support patent creation by our companies and to improve the unreasonable fee system by reflecting the demands of the patent industry. KIPO will continue to reduce the burden of patent fees to enhance the patent competitiveness of our companies."