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NICE international classification of goods and services, 13th edition (applied in 2026) has been pre-released.(News Letter No. 555) |
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KH |
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2025-07-01 |
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11 |
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1. NICE international classification of goods and services, 13th edition (applied in 2026) has been pre-released.
- KIPO approves a number of names of goods led by Korean companies, such as ‘steam cabinets for washing and deodorizing clothes.’
The international names of goods in the field of steam closets, which Korean companies invented and pioneered a new market thereof, have been newly selected as ‘steam cabinets for washing and deodorizing clothes, to be published to applicants from all over the world through the website of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
According to KIPO, the 13th edition of NICE international classification of goods and services including this content was confirmed (June 2025) by reflecting the results of the 35th NICE expert meeting (April to May 2025) and this will be newly applied from January 1, 2026.
When filing a trademark application, an applicant must select a ‘class’ corresponding to goods or service to be used and accurately describe the name thereof, which is an important standard to determine the scope of a trademark right. The standards to classify goods or services are revised in accordance with the latest technological trends and industrial changes and, to this end, WIPO has operated the common standards, i.e., the NICE international classification of goods and services.
One of major revised matters is to move classes of goods under Class 9 for simplification. ▲ Eyeglasses, contact lenses and sunglasses are moved to the medical apparatus and instruments (Class 10) according to the functions of vision correction and eye health protection, and▲ the rescue ships and vehicles, such as fire engines and lifeboats, etc., are moved to transport apparatus and installations (Class 12) by reflecting the essence of transportation.
The proposal that was suggested by KIPO and approved is also noteworthy. The steam cabinets for washing and deodorizing clothes, which have been widely known as ‘Styler’ (LG Electronics) and ‘Airdresser’ (Samsung Electronics) which are products which were invented by Korean companies and have led the global market, have been approved as the international names of goods in this meeting. Accordingly, it is expected that Korean companies’ overseas applications will become easier to file and process because of this change.
A total of 11 goods names, such as a combo washer dryer, which reflects the latest technology for washing and drying clothes within a single drum, a tooth whitening device, a robotic window cleaner, etc., have been approved, achieving the result that the new products newly developed in South Korea have been reflected into the international classification system of goods and services.
2. KIPO and WIPO held a brief session of international applications (June 25, 2025).
- The brief session was to introduce the trends of PCT international applications, how to use the PCT system, and the examples of formality examination, etc.
In the first half of 2025, KIPO held a brief session of international applications for the public interested in an international patent application, workers in the patent agent services and company staff in charge of intellectual property (IP), etc.
Regarding the number of international patent applications (PCT) filed by Korean applicants in 2024, South Korea ranked 4th in the world for 5 consecutive years. In ranking the number of PCT applications, 1st was China, 2nd the US, 3rd Japan, 4th South Korea and 5th Germany. As part of proactive administration, this session was arranged to support Korean companies expanding or planning to expand overseas in securing international IP rights.
In the session, KIPO and WIPO jointly introduced the trends of PCT international applications and provided a comprehensive and systematic explanation across all fields of how to use ePCT, formality examination examples, how to pay fees, etc.
As the main order of the session for 2 hours, through online (ZOOM), an WIPO expert shared the trends of PCT revision and current status and proceeded with an explanation on how to use ePCT, and a KIPO staff member in charge provided PCT formality examination examples, introduced how to pay fees and answered any questions.
3. KIPO held a meeting for trademark policy with representative companies in the K-food, beauty and fashion fields (June 20, 2025).
- KIPO actively supports Korean exports by implementing a preferential examination system for trademarks relating to Korean wave (Hallyu).
According to KIPO, the meeting for trademark policy was held to support Korean exports based on Korean companies and Korean trademarks.
In the meeting, about 20 people attended including the relevant staff of KIPO and the executives and employes of the representative companies in the K-food, beauty and fashion fields leading the popularity of the Korean wave. The meeting was arranged to listen to the difficulties in the process of securing trademark rights and to discuss strategies to file an application for a Korean wave-related trademark and to protect the right, etc.
As the number of requests for preferential examination of trademarks in relation to trendy and fast-fashion Korean products has increased, KIPO newly established a ‘Korean wave trademark preferential examination division’ (December 2024) and has positively supported Korean companies expanding or planning to expand overseas to quickly secure trademark rights. As a result, the preferential examination process of a Korean wave trademark is expected to be shorted by 10% or more compared to the previous year, expected to be 2 months in the end of 2025.
In this meeting, in addition to the on-site communication with business people, the participants discussed how to improve a preferential examination of Korean wave trademark and how to prevent a dispute of a Korean company expanding overseas and how to respond to a dispute.
4. KIPO and WIPO held a presentation of international design system.
KIPO and WIPO jointly held a ‘WIPO-KIPO Hague international design presentation’.
This presentation was arranged to enhance Korean users’ understanding of the overall international design application system (Hague) of WIPO and the application procedures so that they can more effectively use the system. Specifically, Hague Registry experts of WIPO directly explained the system and conducted a Q&A session with attendees.
The presentation introduced ▲ an overview of the Hague system, ▲ how to file an international design application through the Hague system, and ▲ strategies to file an international deisgn application under the Hague system focusing the user(s), etc. The presentation could be attended on-site or online.
As part of the personnel exchange program which KIPO and WIPO conducted from the last year, this presentation is the third joint presentation following WIPO’s international patent and trademark service presentation in December 2024 and WIPO’s dispute resolution service presentation in February 2025. The personnel exchange program is a program where the two organizations send personnel to each other to strengthen cooperation. Andrzej Gatkowski, lawyer, who was sent from WIPO headquarter (Geneva,Switzerland) to KIPO, has worked as a WIPO service advisor and participated in the previous two presentations as a direct presenter.
The number of Hague design applications filed by Korean applicants in 2024 was 892 with an increase of 8.1% compared to the previous year, ranking 3rd. This shows that Korean companies’ domestic interest in design protection in foreign countries is high. In this regard, KIPO prepared this presentation to increase domestic interest in the international design system through the cooperation with WIPO and to support Korean companies in expanding overseas.
The ranking in the number of the WIPO’s international design applications (Hague) in 2024, 1st was China (2,225 applications), 2nd the US (915), 3rd South Korea (892), 4th Germany (792), 5th France (715), 6th Switzerland (627), 7th Italy (564), 8th Japan (540), 9th England (285), and 10th Netherlands (232).
In the presentation, not only the Hague system but also the design system trends of the major countries, the US, Japan, etc. were introduced so that it was expected to provide information which could be of practical help to Korean applicants preparing to file design applications in foreign countries and to agents.
5. KIPO held an industry, university and research institute-policy meeting relating to the humanoid robot industry (June 11, 2025).
KIPO held the policy meeting of industries, universities and research institutes in the field of humanoid robot field, to discuss policy cooperation measures to secure IP competitiveness and foster an industrial ecosystem in the AI-based robot technology.
While global technology competition has intensified in the humanoid robot field, the industries, universities, research institutes and government prepared this meeting to secure leadership in IP-focused domestic robot industry technology. The participants had an in-depth discussion about securing humanoid robot-related core patents, responding to technical standards and overseas patent disputes, etc.
The participants in this meeting were Hyundai Motors, representative robot companies (such as Meere Company, AeiROBOT, Robotics, etc.), key industrial, academia and research personnel (such as Korea Association of Robot Industry, Korea Institute of Robotics & Technology Convergence, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Korea Robotics Society, etc.) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, to proceed with discussion for the system improvement and the relevant policy establishment.
In the meeting, the realistic difficulties of the industry were intensively addressed. The companies emphasized the need to discover evasion and vacant techniques through an analysis of patent bigdata related to humanoids of leading countries and the need to support for Korean companies’ technological development roadmap and customized patent strategies.
In the case of small and medium companies, they also suggested that the government’s support should be strengthened by indicating there are practical limitations in responding to overseas patent disputes. In addition, to activate the robot market, they also requested to strengthen the policy foundation that technology secured through patents could be linked to business.
KIPO plans to conduct an analysis of patent bigdata in the humanoid robot field in 2025 and to establish a standard patent strategical map to derive promising technologies that need to secure standard patents.
KIPO also plans to support in analyzing domestic and overseas core patents by company through the ‘intellectual property R&D’ on the humanoid-related R&D target, selecting research directions, and creating patents, etc. KIPO’s policy aims to enhance technological capabilities and the potential for successful commercialization across the industries by conducting a laboratory-level IP education and a startup’s patent portfolio management and investment linkage program.
16 private experts in the cutting-edge robotics field were hired as examiners in February 2025 to increase examination expertise, and the relevant field was designated as a target of a preferential examination to support the examination process shortened by up to 1.5 years compared to a general examination.
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