Patent Office: "Korean Companies Obtain Patents in France Within 6 Months"

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The time required for Korean companies to obtain patents locally in France will be shortened to within six months.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on the 1st that it will implement the "Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)" program starting this month.

The PPH program is a system that allows applicants to receive expedited examination when filing a patent application for an invention in another country after filing in one country.

Companies using this program will be able to obtain patents in France within six months based on the examination results from KIPO.

Previously, France enacted the "Action Plan for Business Growth and Innovation" law in 2019 and has strengthened intellectual property law and patent examination locally since 2020.

In response, as part of proactive administration, KIPO negotiated with the French Patent Office starting in January and reached a final agreement to implement the PPH program with France at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) General Assembly in July. The implementation date is from the 1st of this month.

Currently, Korea operates the PPH program not only with France but also with the United States, China, Germany, and others, supporting domestic companies to quickly secure overseas patents.

Furthermore, there are plans to actively expand the implementation of the PPH program with emerging countries such as Indonesia, where many domestic companies have entered.

Kim Ji-soo, Director of Patent Examination Planning at KIPO, said, "By implementing the PPH program between Korea and France in response to the changed intellectual property environment in France, we expect domestic companies to quickly secure the intellectual property rights necessary for entering the French market." He added, "KIPO will continue to expand support for securing overseas intellectual property rights to enhance the global competitiveness of domestic companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.