Patent term extensions and adjustments in Asia. Part II: Korea

All major jurisdictions in East Asia – including China following its latest patent law revision in 2021 – offer the possibility of extending the patent term beyond the usual 20-year limit. There are two types of term extensions:

· term extensions for pharmaceutical and agrochemical patents to compensate for the length of time needed to carry out clinical tests and approval procedures, during which the patent owner cannot work the invention;

· term extensions for patents to compensate for delays in the grant procedure. These are known as "patent term adjustments" (PTAs).

This series will shed light on both types of term extensions in three major Asian jurisdictions: Japan, Korea and China. You will learn about the most important features and where to find data on patent term extensions and adjustments using various search tools.

Part II: Korea

The second session of our series will turn the spotlight on South Korea. After an introduction to Korea's term extension and term adjustment systems, you will learn how to find data on these features on freely available online sources.

At the end of the seminar, you will be able to answer the following questions: was a patent term extension granted for the document I am interested in? If so, for how long and what is the expected expiry date? Which claims are involved? Is it possible to challenge a term extension granted for a competitor's patent?