Korea: Disclosure of prior art mandatory as of July 2011

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According to a revision of the Korean Patent Act and Utility Model Act, it became mandatory for all patent or utility model applications filed from 1 July 2011 on to cite prior art information in the patent description. This prior art must be in accordance with the invention specified in the claims. If the applicant fails to meet this requirement, the application will be rejected. However, the applicant may response to a decision of rejection by filing an amendment and adding the prior art information belatedly.

The references must be divided in "patent literature" and "non patent literature". It is not necessary to describe the content of the cited prior art in detail. It is sufficient just to make a reference to these documents by title, publishing date or the number of a patent.

For further information, please refer to KIPO news of 28 June 2011 (in Korean only).