In accordance with the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, the Korean Industrial Property Laws were amended. The amended Laws will be effective as of March 15, 2012. The main contents of the amended Laws are as follow: 

1. Revision of Patent Law. 
(1) Extension of Grace Period for Filing a Publicly Opened Invention 
If an inventor or applicant makes an invention open to the public and files a patent application for the invention within 6 months of being laid open, the invention is regarded as not being open to the public prior to filing the patent application. The grace period for being open to the public prior to the filing date is extended from 6 months to 12 months. This provision will be applied to patent applications filed on or after March 15, 2012.


(2) Extension of the Patent Term Due to Examination Delay 
When a patent is registered late due to an examination delay, the patent term may be extended an equivalent time as the delay term if the applicant requests. The applicant may request an extension of the patent term for the period from the date 4 years from the filing date of a patent application to the registration date or 3 years from the filing date of the request for examination of the patent application to the registration date, whichever comes later, Any delay period due to applicant's own action will not merit an extension. This provision will be applied to patent applications filed on or after March 15, 2012. 

(3) Cancellation of a Patent Right Due to Not-Working the Invention 
Under the current Korean Patent Law, where the patented invention has not been continuously worked for more than two years from the date of adjudication for the establishment of a nonexclusive license because of not-working more than 3 years, a patent right may be cancelled. In the revised Law, however, the corresponding clause was deleted. 


2. Revision of Trademark Law 
(1) Protection of Sound Marks and Smell Marks 
Even if sound or smell marks are non-visual, if they may be expressed visually by using signs, letters, devices or any other methods, they can be protected according to the revised trademark law. However, the method of expressing the sound mark and the smell mark visually will later be discussed at the time of amending the Standards for Trademark Examination. 

(2) Certification Mark 
The Certification Mark system proving the characteristics of quality, origin, method of manufacturing, etc. of the goods or services was adopted. This will strengthen the quality warranty function of a trademark and provide general consumers with accurate information on the goods or services. 

(3) Abolition of Compulsory Recordation of a Trademark Exclusive License 
In the past, an exclusive trademark license did not became effective until it was recorded at the Trademark Register. However, according to the amended Trademark Law, an exclusive trademark license becomes effective even without the recordation of the trademark license at the Korean Intellectual Property Office. 


(4) Statutory Damages 
In damage compensation suits, if it was difficult to prove the actual damages or estimate the amount of damages, substantive protection of a trademark owner was very difficult. According to the revised provision, a trademark owner may claim damages of up to 50 million Korean Won, even if he or she cannot prove the damages clearly. In this case, the provision states that the amount of statutory damages will be determined by the court. 


3. Order for Secret Maintenance 
In infringement suits, in a case where business or trade secrets are included in the Written Suit presented by the parties concerned, it is likely that damages to the business may be inflicted on the parties concerned if proceedings were to be open to the public. The Court can order the persons concerned not to reveal the business or trade secrets except for the purpose of the legal proceedings.