KIPO's Introduction of 'Temporary Specification' Shows Strong Effects... Top Users LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics

Data on actual usage after the introduction of the Temporary Specification System. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office.

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The introduction of the provisional patent specification system is analyzed to be playing a significant role in the rapid patent acquisition of domestic companies in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution. LG Electronics was the biggest user of the provisional specification system, followed by Samsung Electronics.

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office on the 20th, the provisional specification system allows applicants to submit provisional specifications in various formats such as PDF without requiring the standardized specification format at the time of patent application, and then submit the formal specification within 1 year and 2 months from the application date (priority date).

This system was introduced and implemented on March 3rd last year. The number of provisional specification uses increased sharply from 227 cases in April last year to 730 cases last month, a 3.2-fold increase. This indicates that provisional specifications are being used as a tool for rapid patent application in new industrial fields related to the 4th Industrial Revolution, where the speed of patent acquisition is crucial.

In fact, provisional specifications are mainly utilized in digital new technology fields, which align with the purpose of the system's introduction. Among all provisional specification applications, submissions in digital new technology fields such as telecommunications (26.3%), computer technology (13.6%), and e-commerce (10.0%) accounted for 49.9% of the total.

The main users of the provisional specification system were LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics, closely related to the digital new technology field, ranking first and second respectively. Since the system's introduction, these companies have filed 1,191 and 637 provisional specification applications respectively.

In the utilization status of provisional specifications by company, LG Electronics filed 984 cases (82.6%) in the telecommunications technology field using provisional specifications, while Samsung Electronics mainly used the system in telecommunications with 171 cases (6.8%) and computer technology with 240 cases (37.7%).

Kim Ji-soo, Director of the Patent Examination Planning Bureau at the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said, “In digital new technology fields such as telecommunications and computer technology, where our companies have strengths, securing standard technologies is very important compared to other fields,” and added, “From the applicant’s perspective, the provisional specification system, which allows for rapid application, seems to be helpful.”