Patent Act Article 49May 1, 2019

Amendment during reexamination

Where a decision of rejection is rendered pursuant to Paragraph 2 of Article 46, the applicant may amend the description, claims, or drawing(s) during the reexamination stage.

Where a final notice has been issued before the decision of rejection is rendered for a patent application, any amendment made during the reexamination stage shall still be subject to limitations set forth in each subparagraph of Paragraph 4 of Article 43. The above shall not apply to reexamination, if the Specific Patent Agency finds that the final notice issued in the original examination procedure was improper.

The Specific Patent Agency may issue a final notice accordingly under any of the following circumstances:

1. where the reason(s) for reexamination still entails grounds for unpatentability;
2. where the amendment(s) made during the reexamination stage still entails grounds for unpatentability; or
3. where an amendment made in accordance with the preceding paragraph is in violation of the subparagraphs of Paragraph 4 of Article 43.

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Patent Act Article 43May 1, 2019

Amendment during examination; final notice

Unless otherwise stipulated in this Act, when examining a patent application for invention, the Specific Patent Agency may, upon request or on its own initiative, notify the applicant to amend the description, claim(s), or drawings within a specified time period.

Except for correction of translation errors, any amendment shall not extend beyond the scope of content disclosed in the description, claim(s), or drawing(s) as filed.

Where the Specific Patent Agency has issued a notice pursuant to Paragraph 2 of Article 46, a patent applicant shall only make amendment(s) within the specified time period in the notice.

The Specific Patent Agency may, as it deems necessary, issue a final notice after having issued a notice prescribed in the preceding paragraph. The applicant who is to amend claim(s) after a final notice has been issued shall only make the following amendments within the time period specified therein:

1. to delete claim(s);
2. to narrow down the scope of claim(s);
3. to correct errors; or
4. to clarify ambiguous statement(s).

In case of a violation of the provisions in the preceding two paragraphs, the Specific Patent Agency shall state the reasons in a written decision and render such decision accordingly.

The Specific Patent Agency may issue a final notice accordingly if the original patent application or its divisional application meets any of the following conditions:
1. where the content of the notice issued for the original patent application is same as that of the notice issued for the divisional patent application;
2. where the content of the notice issued for the divisional patent application is same as that of the notice issued for the original patent application; or
3. where the content of the notice issued for a divisional application is same as that of the notice issued for other divisional application(s).

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Patent Act Article 46May 1, 2019

Grounds for rejection of invention patent application "When a patent application for invention is in violation of the provisions set forth in Articles 21 through 24, Article 26, Article 31, Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 32, Article 33, Paragraph 4 and the forepart of Paragraph 6 of Article 34, Paragraph 2 of Article 43, Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 44, or Paragraph 3 of Article 108, a decision of rejection shall be rendered. "Before rendering a decision in accordance with the preceding paragraph, the Specific Patent Agency shall notify the applicant to file a response within a specified time period. If the applicant fails to make a response within the time period, a decision of rejection shall be rendered accordingly.

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