The Korea IP Office revised “Rules for Collection of Official Patent Fees, Etc.” on July 28, 2023. Key changes are as follows:
1. Patent registration fee will be reduced by around 10%. The change in fee for establishment of rights (registration fee for the initial 3 years) will apply to patents whose date of notice of allowance is on or after August 1, 2023, and the change in maintenance / annuity fees (registration fees for the fourth year and thereafter) will apply to patents with the fees due on or after August 1, 2023.
2. The official fee for Request for Examination will be increased by around 16%. The change will apply to patent applications filed on or after August 1, 2023.
3. A tiered fee structure for the official filing fee based on the number of divisional patent applications will be introduced. The official filing fee for a divisional application is 46,000 KRW (around $40 USD) currently, which is the same as the official filing fee for a new patent application, but the revised rule will require the official filing fee for the second divisional application to be twice as much as that of a new patent application, for the third divisional, three times as much, for the fourth divisional, four times, and the fifth divisional and thereafter, five times as much as the filing fee of a new patent application. This change will go into effect from August 1, 2023.
4. The official fees for application for trademark registration, request for re-examination, registration for establishment of rights, registration of additional designated goods, and registration for renewal of duration will be reduced by 10,000 KRW (around $8.7 USD), respectively, The basic number of designated goods per class over which an additional fee is imposed will be changed from 20, which is currently in effect, to 10. The additional fee to be imposed per designated goods to be added, which is 2,000 KRW (around $1.7 USD) will remain the same. This change will apply to trademark applications filed on or after August 1, 2023.