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Other matters and useful links (URLs): annual report of the Office, news page, statistics, etc.
• Annual report: http://www.kipo.go.kr/kpo/user.tdf?a=user.english.html.HtmlApp&c=60111&catmenu=ek07_01_01
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Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) - URLs
To integrate scattered counseling resources and promptly provide technical advice, the Customer Service Center was established in March 2002. Its main services are on the following issues:
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Availability of the application dossier in electronic form
All trademark applications filed at KIPO are made available in electronic format for its administrative processing including examination, publication, and trial. Approximately, 94.3 percent of the total trademark applications (i.e., 162,619 applications) were filed online via the e-filing portal mentioned above. The rest of such applications which were filed in paper are also digitalized in electronic format, along with all the other application-related documents including amendments and intermediate documents. This digitalization process employs multi-OCR, dual key input, automatic verification and color scanning. In 2015, 22,824 trademark applications and 185,443 letter marks were digitalized.
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(ii) Use of electronic classification systems and pre-defined terms of the classification applied
For the sake of efficient classification for goods and services, KIPO has established databases of official names and similar names. Approximately 15,000 official names are legally announced to help applicants and examiners identify or distinguish goods and services, while permissible similar names, from those which have been used by applicants when filing an application, have also been selectively extracted.
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Matters concerning processing of different types of non-traditional marks (e.g., three-dimensional, motion, hologram, color mark, etc.)
In the cases of three-dimensional, motion, hologram or color marks, applicants are required to attach drawings or pictures (of Resolution 300-400dpi, in JPEG) along with the explanatory notes when filing an application for such mark applications. Sample video in motion or hologram marks should be made in a widely-used format such as WAV, MP3 and MPEG, with a maximum size of 10Mbytes. Audio files attached to sound mark applications (with a maximum 3Mbytes size in MP3, WAV, WMA, etc.) can be played by the PDF gazette viewer.
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Main types of publications in the field of trademark information, outline of the content and medium (on paper, on CDs, online - URLs)
Trademark applications are published on KIPO’s website in PDF on a daily basis in official gazettes, as explained in the next section.
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Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online, URL), etc.
PDF gazettes of trademark applications and registrations can be seen for three months on KIPO’s website (URLs: ) for two months after being first posted on the website, since July 2001 for quick and easy access by the public. The gazettes are also offered by email to people who have subscribed to the mailing service. Furthermore, DVD-ROM gazettes are produced in XML/PDF format, to be distributed to three domestic organizations, twice a month. The gazettes on trademarks published in 2015 contained 140,197 trademark applications.
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Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases
KIPO has built a trademark database based on applications filed as far back as 1950. The database also includes International Non-proprietary Names (INNs) for Pharmaceutical substances, Geographical indications protected by FTA, Regional Collective Mark protected in Japan, and flag, armorial bearings and hallmark, etc. protected by Paris Convention.
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Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)
Korea Industrial Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS)
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Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)
Legal status information is made available at KIRPISPlus, which is a fee-based search service via an Open API targeting web service users launched in September 2012. Such information can be identified with 63 kinds of legal status codes and 177 types of event codes and is updated every two weeks. Legal status codes represent the administrative progress of an application, while the event codes represent the ground for such legal statuses, for example, receipt and dispatch of documents. Some examples of such legal status codes are ‘extinguishment of trademark right in absence of successor,’ ‘decision to reject trademark registration,’ ‘trial for invalidation of trademark registration,’ ‘trial for invalidation of renewal registration of term of trademark right,’ ‘trial for revocation of trademark registration,’ and ‘trial for revocation of trademark license registration.’ As of the end of 2015, it had a database pertaining to 739 thousand trademarks.
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Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements
There are a total of 4122 software applications to support KIPO’s business procedures such as search, examination, registration, and trial in 175 types of the five groups, as below:
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Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office
• Server: 52 UNIX Enterprise servers, 111 NT servers, and 145 Linux servers
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Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
The internal database is built based applications and has been continuously updated and refined for search purposes. It can be identified with bibliographic data (1950-, Text), sample images from applications (1950-, JPEG), dossier of rejected applications (1989-1998, TIFF), dossier of registered marks (1974-1999, JPG/TIFF) and registry (1952-1991, JPG/TIFF).
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Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file
File building and updating
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Office's library (if deals with trademark information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries
IP Digital Library
The IP Digital Library archives trademark documents from seven countries and one international organization, which are published on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. The library also possesses 11,387 volumes of trademark-related journals, magazines and books that were either donated or purchased. The general public is allowed to access to this collection for search and copy services.
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Publications related to different business procedures and trademark information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.
• Business procedures (e.g., filing, publication, examination, registration, appeal, etc.): http://www.kipo.go.kr/kpo/user.tdf?a=user.english.html.HtmlApp&c=93000&catmenu=ek04_01_01
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International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)
KIPO has provided its official gazettes for trademarks to ten offices including the JPO, USPTO, and WIPO via FTP. In reverse, KIPO has been provided with trademark data from Kyrgyzstan and Slovakia on CD-ROM and from ARIPO, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, the United State of America, Viet Nam, and WIPO via FTP.
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Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to trademark information
Concerning classification for goods and services, KIPO has participated in international activities as below:
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