South Korea
In order to help South Korea’s SMEs with their intellectual property expenditures, the country’s Intellectual Property Office has implemented a method for reducing patent fees.
The costs associated with filing a patent application, examination, registration for the first three years, and requesting a trial to determine the extent of active rights are all significantly reduced for SMEs by 70%. Additionally, payments for applications for cooperative research findings between SMEs and non-SMEs, as well as for the four-year registration of patents, are available at a substantial 50% discount. Businesses must provide documentation of their SME status in order to benefit from the lower patent costs.
The ongoing economic uncertainties may make such cost reductions invaluable to small enterprises, and they may also drive an increase in innovation in South Korean markets by making IP protection more accessible.
Romania
As of January 1, 2023, the Romanian IPO introduced revised intellectual property costs. On this day each year, the country’s IP fees are updated. They are calculated using the BNR rate as a consequence of the RON to EUR exchange rate that the National Bank of Romania publishes on October 1 of every year.
The adoption of amendments to Romania’s trademark law took effect on January 14, 2023, immediately after the amended fee schedule went into force. Changes to the way trademark revocation and invalidation applications are handled are part of the recently amended legislation.
Applications for revocation and invalidation are subject to a preliminary examination to ensure that they meet all formal requirements, including whether they include the correct party information, information about the contested trademark and its owner, as well as the legal grounds, pertinent goods, and services, and substantive arguments and supporting evidence.
Defendants shall be informed of such petitions and given 30 days to provide a statement of defense; in response, the plaintiff will have 10 days to submit a counterclaim. The issue may then move on to the hearing stage.
Within 30 days of notification, decisions concerning revocation and invalidations may be disputed before the Bucharest Tribunal. Thereafter, an appeal may be made to the Bucharest Court of Appeal.
OAPI
The African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) joined the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications on December 15, 2022.
The OAPI now has 16 member states, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. The OAPI is one of only two intergovernmental organizations to join the Lisbon System.
By joining the Geneva Act, manufacturers of high-quality goods with a clear geographic or appellation of origin connection can submit a single application to the WIPO along with a single set of fees to obtain protection for the designations of their goods.
A important step toward a more global and modern approach to intellectual property protection has been made with the OAPI’s approval of the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement.
The list of Global IP Firms can be found here.