Creating the Digital Healthcare Patent Examination Guide Together with Customers

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) (Commissioner Kim Wan-gi) will hold an on-site communication meeting with industry academia and research experts in the field of digital healthcare on October 18 (Friday) at 2 p.m. at KIPO’s Seoul Office (Gangnam-gu Seoul).

The meeting has been organized to share the draft of the Patent Examination Guide for the rapidly growing field of digital healthcare technologies and to gather feedback from professionals on the ground.

The number of patent applications in the digital healthcare sector in Korea has surged rising from 2785 cases in 2015 to 7141 cases in 2023. The global market is also expected to grow from $174 billion in 2019 to approximately $657 billion by 2025.*

GLOBAL ICT PORTAL 2022 (National IT Industry Promotion Agency)
Digital healthcare technologies are characterized by their fusion of digital engineering and medical technology. New technologies have been emerging rapidly especially with the integration of the latest IT advancements prompting the need for a new examination guide.

KIPO has collected industry feedback analyzed examination guides from adjacent fields such as computer technology reviewed foreign examination cases and studied precedents from patent courts leading to the preparation of a draft examination guide based on practical case studies.

In the healthcare industry there has been significant feedback that the effectiveness of innovations is crucial in determining patentability. Many have also pointed out the challenges of drafting patent specifications and defining the scope of rights. The new examination guide will reflect these industry opinions and incorporate the feedback gathered during the on-site meeting focusing on case studies.

Son Chang-ho Director of KIPO’s Bio-Healthcare Examination Division stated “Once the examination guide is finalized it will be disseminated to the relevant industries to support their growth engines.” He added “We expect that this guide will enhance predictability in patent examination outcomes providing practical assistance to applicants in formulating appropriate response strategies.”

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