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Main Contents and Comment on the Invention Law of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

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Abstract

On 20 January 2021, the Invention Law of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was amended and supplemented by the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPR Korea. The law defines the system and orders governing the application, examination and protection of patents and inventor’s certificates. The law provides a domestic legal guarantee to promote the development of science and technology of the country and encourage economic development in conformity with the requirements of international patent-related treaties. The paper provides a summary description and analysis of the DPR Korean invention law with an eye to patent-related multilateral treaties to which the country has acceded, patent-related documents of the WIPO and other countries’ patent laws.

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Notes

  1. Cabinet Decision No. 154 of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, 3 September 1953.

  2. Cabinet Decision No. 61 of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, 2 October 1959.

  3. Cabinet Decision No. 64 of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, 5 October 1967.

  4. The amendment aimed at excluding the introduction of foreign technical achievements (design).

  5. Defining the term “invention”, the expressions “novelty” and “technical and economic applicability” were inserted and invention of method, use and production were supplemented.

  6. Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure (done at Budapest on 28 April 1977 and amended on 26 September 1980), WIPO Publication No. 277(E).

  7. Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification (done 24 March 1971 and amended on 28 September 1979), WIPO Publication No. 275(E).

  8. Article 1 of the Invention Law of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK Invention Law).

  9. Article 2 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  10. Article 3 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  11. Article 4 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  12. Article 5 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  13. Article 6 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  14. Article 7 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  15. Article 8 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  16. Article 11 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  17. Article 12 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  18. Article 13 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  19. Article 19 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  20. Article 20 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  21. Article 17 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  22. Article 18 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  23. Article 15 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  24. Article 22 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  25. Article 9 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  26. Article 24 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  27. Article 25 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  28. Article 26 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  29. Article 29 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  30. Article 30 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  31. Article 31 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  32. Article 32 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  33. Article 33 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  34. Article 35 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  35. Article 39 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  36. Article 37 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  37. Article 45 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  38. Article 43 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  39. Article 47 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  40. Article 50 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  41. Article 48 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  42. Article 53 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  43. Article 54 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  44. Article 55 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  45. Article 49 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  46. Article 56 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  47. Article 57 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  48. Article 60 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  49. Article 61 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  50. Article 62 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  51. Article 63 of the DPRK Invention Law.

  52. “Applications for inventors’ certificates filed in a country in which applicants have the right to apply at their own option either for a patent or for an inventors’ certificate shall give rise to the right of priority … .”: WIPO Publication No. 201(E), 2017, p. 11.

  53. BIRPI Publication (1964) Study Group on Certificates of Authorship, containing surveys of the legislation of Bulgaria, Poland, Rumania and U.S.S.R.

  54. Bodenhausen (1969), p. 59.

  55. “(ii) references to a “patent” shall be construed as references to patents for inventions, inventors’ certificates, utility certificates, utility models, patents or certificates of addition, inventors’ certificates of addition, and utility certificates of addition;”: WIPO Publication No. 274(E), 2018, p. 7.

  56. WIPO (2016), p. 73.

  57. WIPO (2006a), p. 5.

  58. Article 32 of the DPRK Constitution.

  59. German Patent and Trade Mark Office 2010, p. 13.

  60. Article 1 of the Paris Convention.

  61. Article 2 of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

  62. WIPO (2006b), p. 10.

  63. WIPO (2017), p. 209.

  64. Article 27 of the DPR Korea Constitution.

  65. WIPO (2011), p. 90.

  66. Article 34 of the DPRK Constitution.

  67. WIPO (2012), p. 173.

  68. WIPO (2010), p. 65.

  69. WIPO (2004), p. 408.

  70. WIPO (2012), p. 173.

References

  • Bodenhausen GHC (1969) Guide to the application of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. BIRPI

  • German Patent and Trade Mark Office (2010) Patents: An information brochure on patents.

  • WIPO (2004) Intellectual property handbook. WIPO Publication No. 489 (E)

  • WIPO (2006a) International patent classification. 8th edn, WIPO Publication No. 409E/8

  • WIPO (2006b) Inventing the future: an introduction to patents for small and medium-sized enterprises. WIPO Publication No. 917(E).

  • WIPO (2010) Patent drafting manual. WIPO Publication No. 867 (E)

  • WIPO (2011) World intellectual property indicators. WIPO Publication No. 941 (E)

  • WIPO (2012) Promoting access to medical technologies and innovation: intersections between public health, intellectual property and trade. WIPO Publication No. 628 (E)

  • WIPO (2016) Patent Law Treaty (PLT) and regulation under the Patent Law Treaty and explanatory notes on the Patent Law Treaty and the regulations under the Patent Law Treaty. WIPO Publication No. 258 (E)

  • WIPO (2017) World intellectual property indicators. WIPO Publication

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dr. Professor of Intellectual Property Law and International Law, Faculty of Law, Kim Il Sung University, Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

    Kum-Chol Ro

  2. Lecturer of Economics, Faculty of Economics, Kim Il Sung University, Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

    Myong-Hui Ri

  3. Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Kim Il Sung University, Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

    Hye-Ryon Son

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  1. Kum-Chol Ro
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  2. Myong-Hui Ri
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Correspondence to Kum-Chol Ro.

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Ro, KC., Ri, MH. & Son, HR. Main Contents and Comment on the Invention Law of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. IIC 53, 743–757 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40319-022-01187-6

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