KIPO Amends Patent Examination Guidelines For Computer Software Inventions
24 July 2014
The Korean Intellectual Property Office has recently amended its Patent Examination Guidelines for Computer Software Inventions to expand the scope of protection for software inventions.
Accordingly, applications filed on or after July 1, 2014, would be examined based on the revised guidelines. Along with the previously allowed claims for software inventions directed to method, apparatus and computer readable medium, the new amendments to the patent examination guidlines now consider computer programmes as statutory subject matter. Thus, KIPO may consider various types of software, such as applications (mobile apps), platforms, operating systems (OSs) as patentable subject matter.
