SOUTH KOREA
May 17, 2016
As of June 30th, some relevant amendments in the Korean Patent Act will enter into effect. Among others, (i) any interested party can file a cancellation action against a patent application, (ii) the time frame to request examination for patents filed after March 1st, 2017, will be shortened to 3 years from the filing date and (iii) the burden of proof in patent infringement actions will be switched to the alleged infringer, in case they do not produce relevant material or information if requested by the Court.
In relation to trademarks, a complete amendment of the Korean Trademark Law will be effective on September 1st, 2016. Changes such as the following are introduced: (i) a less restricted definition of "trademark" is used; (ii) any person (not only the interested ones) may file a cancellation action against a trademark registration; and (iii) a trademark may be rejected if a similar mark exists at the time of the registration (prior, if it had existed at any time before the registration, it could already be basis for an objection).