Korea: Korea-US Free Trade Agreement ratified by Korean Parliament

The Korean parliament passed the long-pending Free Trade Agreement with the USA (KORUS FTA) in a controversial session on 22 November. As the agreement had been also approved by the US parliament about one month before, it is planned to take effect already on 1 January 2012.

The KORUS FTA includes a number of provisions related to Intellectual Property rights. Some of the most important stipulations are as follows:

• Extension of the patent term in case of examination delays of more than four years from filing date or three years from the request for examination.
• Extension of the grace period for filing a patent after previous publication from six to twelve months.
• Recognition of trade marks for sounds and scents.

For further information, please refer to the following article in Korea's news agency Yonhap news of 22 November 2011 (in English) and the US government FTA information website with a downloadable version of the complete agreement.