1. MOIP distributes a guide on how to file a proper patent application in the AI era.
- This is to curb the filing of an indiscriminate patent application using AI and to encourage the filing of a proper patent application.
- This is to suggest the principle of good faith (fact-checking, test data verification, etc.) to be followed when filing a patent application.
In order for an invention using AI to be patented, a human must substantially contribute during the creation process. In addition, if test results generated by AI are submitted by deceiving as being the actual test results, legal responsibility may follow, and caution is required.
In line with the era of AI, MOIP distributes the guide on how to file a proper patent application in the AI era, to prevent indiscriminate patent applications using generative AI from being filed and to encourage proper applications to be filed.
This guide provides the duty of care to be observed by an applicant during the process of filing a patent application for an invention using AI and the requirements for a patentability as follows:
<(1) An invention simply using AI cannot be accepted and a human must contribute to the invention, to be patentable.>
Under the Patent Act, AI cannot be patented and only a person who invents an invention or his/her successor can obtain a patent. To be recognized as a person inventing an invention (legitimate inventor), the person must substantially contribute during the creation process of the invention. In the case where a result obtained from simply inputting general instructions into AI are filed as an application, it cannot be patented. Even if it is patented, it becomes invalid.
When a legitimate inventor is suspected during the examination process, the examiner may notify a reason for rejection and request documents, “R&D notes” or “declaration of inventorship”, etc., to prove that the person has contributed to the invention.
<(2) If test requests generated by AI were submitted by deceiving as being the actual test results, legal responsibility may follow.>
Since non-existent technical content and false effects may be generated by AI hallucination phenomenon, the content made by AI should not be trusted as it is. An applicant and an agent must carefully review the truthfulness of the content and the feasibility of the invention during the process of preparing patent documents, such as specification, argument, etc.,
When patent applications related to medicines and advanced materials, etc. using AI are filed, more attention is needed. If a patent application without experimentally verifying a candidate substance or efficacy proposed by AI is filed, the patentability of the invention is rejected due to issues, such as feasibility, etc. Even if such an invention is patented, it becomes invalid. In the case where a person obtains a patent of an invention by deceiving as if test results were his/her own test results, without verifying the test results generated by AI, legal responsibilities, such as the crime of false acts, may additionally follow.
• Korean Patent Act. Article 229 (Fraud): Any person who obtains a patent, the registration of an extension of the valid term of a patent, or a decision on an application, or a trial ruling in his/her favor by fraud or other improper means shall be punished by imprisonment with labor for not more than 3 years or by a fine not exceeding 30 million Korea Won.
<(3) Guide of the requirements for patentability to be careful by AI invention type.>
AI inventions are broadly divided by 3 types, each with requirements for patentability to pay special attention. These inventions shall be described to meet the requirements for specification description by taking the following points into consideration: when an invention relates to AI itself, it needs to thoroughly review the patentable subject matter of the invention in which AI must perform information processing in combination with hardware (such as memory); when an invention includes AI as an element of the invention, it needs to thoroughly review the requirement of an inventive step(s) that must demonstrate better effects compared to prior art, through originate technical characteristics; when an invention uses AI as a tool, the effects presented by AI must not be described as they are and it needs to thoroughly review the feasibility.
<(4) When using AI, since the content of an invention may be leaked externally, attention must be paid to security.>
Since data which are input in the process of using AI may be used for external AI learning process and known to others, special attention must be paid to security when entering trade secrets or core technology information. One method is to set up the user environment before using AI, to prevent input data from being used for external AI model learning.
The Vice Minister of MOIP said, “this guide has been prepared to proactively present the duty of care to be observed by an applicant in line with the spread of AI utilization… Regarding the examination standards for inventions using AI, since international institutional harmonization is important, we will lead the discussion in the 2026 IP5 Heads of Office Meeting (June 10~12, 2026, Japan), to prepare the patent system in line with the era of AI.
2. Korea Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board (IPTAB) strengthens the public’s right to know by expanding the disclosure of key trial decisions.
IPTAB under MOIP will reorganize the website and expand the disclosure of key trial decisions, to strengthen the public’s right to know and improve the public’s understanding of the trial systems.
This reorganization is carried forward, focusing on strengthening the user-centered information providing system, and, notably, the key is to increasing accessibility to major trial decisions.
To this end, IPTAB plans to selectively provide the key trial decisions, such as ►monthly major trial decisions, ►public-interest trial decisions, etc., so that the public can easily get the information of key trial cases.
The trial-mediation linkage system will be introduced and the guide on how to apply for the system will be added. In addition, the information, such as the trial manuals, the oral hearing guidelines, etc., which trial clients need to know, will be continuously provided to enhance the public’s understanding of patent trials.
The president of IPTAB said, “we will make it so the public can easily access the trial information through the reorganization of the website, and we will strengthen the provision of information focused on the key trial decision…We will continue to expand the trial information services to meet public expectations.”
3. MOIP checked about 10,000 posts in 7 open markets, detected numerous false patent markings and completed their corrections.
Targeting products for seniors, MOIP checked the state of intellectual property right marking and completed corrections for 341 cases detected for false markings.
Senior-friendly industry for senior customers, the so-called silver industry, has remerged as a new core industry. Specifically, when products which are directly related to health for the elderly are marked with false patents, thereby deceiving consumers as if the government guarantees quality, these may cause serious harm to the elderly.
MOIP conducted a planned investigation whether false markings related to patents, utility models, designs and trademarks were made regarding 10,000 posts on the sale of senior-friendly products in major open markets from February 26 to March 25, 2026. The markets included 11st, Gmarket, Naver Smart Store, Auction, Coupang, SSG, Lotte On (7 companies).
<341 cases were detected in a total of 15 products, with 80.4% of false patent marking.>
As a result of the investigation, 341 false marking cases were confirmed regarding a total of 15 products.
By type of rights, false patent marking was highest with 274 cases (80.4%), followed by false design marking with 66 cases (19.4%) and false trademark marking with 1 case (0.3%).
By type of violation, 185 cases (54.3%) were marked with extinguished rights, accounting for more than half, and 93 cases (27.3%) were marked with non-existent rights numbers. In addition, 63 cases (18.5%) were marked with incorrect intellectual property types, such as a design was marked as a patent.
By type of product, living convenience products accounted for nearly half with 170 cases (49.9%), followed by health management products with 114 cases (33.4%), mobility aids with 49 cases (14.4%), digital care products with 6 cases (1.8%), and safety products with 2 cases (0.6%). Notably, living convenience and health management products which are frequently used in daily life accounted for 83.3% of total violations.
As major detected items, the ‘patented scorched rice snacks for seniors’ (which were marked with extinguished rights) accounted for the most with 93 cases in 5 open markets. Since this product with the expressions, such as ‘seniors’ and ‘patented’, gave the impression that it was made by a patented method for seniors, it was a case that caused double confusion among consumers. In addition, the detected items were the ‘large magnifying glasses with aspherical multifocal lenses’ (61 cases in 6 markets, marked with extinguished rights), foot heat packs (56 cases in 6 markets, marked with non-existent numbers), wheel covers for wheelchair (3 cases in 32 markets, marked a design as a patent), and red bean compress packs (30 cases in 4 markets, marked with non-existent number).
False marking of intellectual property rights is an illegal act punishable by up to 3 years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million Korea Won under the Patent Act and the relevant laws. MOIP notified the open market businesspeople of the violation regarding 341 detected posts and requested corrections. As a result, 197 posts were corrected, 124 posts were deleted, and 20 posts discontinued selling, thereby correcting all of them.
MOIP will check repeated violations through seller management, guide how to correctly mark intellectual property rights through social media, etc., distribute guidelines for open market sellers, and conduct prevent education, to establish sound transaction order.
4. MOIP distributes an English guide on how to file a Korean design application for overseas applicants.
MOIP announced to manufacture and distribute ‘From Creation to Protection: A practical Guide to Korean Design Rights & Examination’, which is an English guide including the procedures and notes required for overseas companies and designers to acquire design rights in the Republic of Korea.
This guide has been manufactured as part of proactive administration to improve the conveniences for foreign companies and designers preparing to enter the Republic of Korea, and it introduces in English how to make a Korean design application and the practical design examination procedures.
To prevent an applicant from unnecessarily wasting time during the process of actually filing a design application, this guide focuses on incorrectly described examples, difficulties frequently faced during the design drawing preparation and the solutions, and important notes. In addition, the guide provides detailed explanations focusing on the cases regarding Korean unique design right securing systems, such as related designs, a design of a set of articles, a partial-substantive examination system.
The director of the Trademark & Design Examination Bureau of MOIP said, “this English guide will be of substantial help for overseas applicants or foreign agents to correctly understand Korean design system, thereby reducing unnecessary errors…We will actively promote Korean design application, registration and examination systems so that foreign companies and designers can rapidly and easily secure Korean design rights.”
5. MOIP held a policy meeting with companies filing multiple trademark applications
- MOIP held a policy meeting with 7 companies filing multiple trademark applications including LG Household & Health Care, CJ CheilJedang Corporation, etc. and the field experts.
- The current issues discussed and debated were rapid trademark securing and protection for startups and overseas expansion.
According to MOIP, the 2026 policy meeting with companies filing multiple trademark applications was held with those companies and the field experts.
In the meeting, 7 companies filing multiple trademark applications (Samsung Electronics, CJ CheilJedang, LG Household & Health Care, Naver, Musinsa, Nol Universe, and Faminitie) and people in charge of trademarks attended to exchange opinions on the overall system.
The participating companies are representative Korean companies which actively use the trademark system and brands in each of industrial areas including electronics, digital and cloud, beauty, fashion, culture, food and beverage, and bio. The cumulative total of 49,000 trademark applications were filed by the 7 companies, of which about 26,000 are currently valid registered trademarks.
In this meeting, MOIP guided the recent major changes of the trademark-related systems, such as ►current trademark application and examination status, ►partial rejection system, ►coexistence consent and ►super-fast accelerated examination. It also collected the participants’ opinions regarding the policy tasks to be improved in the future, such as ►establishment of standards for determining a well-known mark and a famous mark, and ► reduction of registration abandonment, etc.
The Vice Minister of MOIP said, “Due to the global spread of the Korea Wave (Hallyu), the brand values of Korean companies are at their highest than ever before… For the growth and development of Korean industries and companies, we, as the general affairs department for intellectual property, will take the lead in not only providing prompt and convenient trademark examinations but also improving systems for the creation, utilization and protection of all intellectual property.”
6. MOIP promotes the establishment of an intellectual property information analysis platform (IP One Portal: IPOP) over 3 years.
MOIP held a launch briefing session of the project for establishment of IPOP and announced to fully start establishing an AI-based IP data analysis system.
This project to establish an analysis platform to effectively analyze and use vast IP data, such as patents, trademarks, designs, etc., is promoted step by step, over 3 years starting 2026.
Until now, it took a lot of time to analyze patent technology trends or organize necessary data, and there was a limitation that it was difficult to use information unless a user was an expert. Specifically, since data was scattered in multiple systems, a complex process was required to find the desired information.
MOIP plans to establish its internal and public-use platforms under the name of IPOP (IP One Portal). The internal platform is to be used as a data analysis tool to support the data analysis tasks, such as patent technology trend analysis, technology leakage survey, etc. The public-use platform is to reorganize and provide the IP information scattered in various locations to meet a user’s information use purpose, so that the public accessibility is expected to further enhance.
This launch briefing session was prepared to share the establishment direction and major functions of the platform and to collect opinions from the people in charge of actual data analysis and the relevant organizations to be reflected in the future establishment process thereof.
The director of the Intellectual Property Information Bureau of MOIP said, “The AI-based IP analysis platform will be a critical infrastructure to discover future promising technology and to support national strategy formulation by rapidly analyzing vast patent data…we will creating an environment that everyone in the country can easily and conveniently use necessary IP information, to strengthen the digital-based IP administration.”
7. MOIP and Chinese government discussed the cooperation to respond to online counterfeits of K-brand products.
MOIP and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources held a meeting with the Ministry of Commerce pf the People’s Republic of China in Beijing, China on June 24, 2026, to discuss the cooperation plans to respond to the online counterfeit products and to strengthen the Korean companies’ intellectual properties in China.
This meeting was arranged to prevent damages to Korean export companies and to establish a more rapid support system to protect rights since the distribution of counterfeit products at Chinese online marketplaces has continued to increase. Through this meeting, broad discussions were held on enhancing the effectiveness of the measures to report and block counterfeit products in the Chinese online marketplaces and strengthening the bilateral responses to the repeated and organized distribution of counterfeit products and the cooperation plans among the relevant agencies.
MOIP has expanded cooperation not only the Chinese government but also with major private online marketplaces. In last May, Hangzhou, China, MOIP and Alibaba Taotian Group agreed to establish a direct line for rapid cooperation in the process of responding to online counterfeit products.
Through this, MOIP plans to strengthen a practical cooperation to more rapidly solve the problem issues, such as restrictions in using an account, requests for document supplements, and delays in processes, etc., which arise during the process of reporting online marketplaces. It will also share the information, such as modified trademark names, slangs and abbreviations, etc. which are used by counterfeit sellers to avoid crackdowns, thereby increasing the accuracy of blocking the distribution of counterfeit products.
In addition, in the second half of this year, MOIP has a plan to hold a joint presentation to inform major Korean K-brand companies of Alibaba Taotian Group’s IP protection policies, etc. and to listen to Korean companies’ problem issues.
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