According to
this bulletin from Lee International IP & Law Group in
South Korea, Korean patents filed on or after March 2012 may be
entitled to Patent Term Adjustment if they issued more than 4 years
after the filing date and more than three years after a request for
examination was filed.
Patent Term Adjustment Under Article 92(2) of the Korean Patent
Act
Like the U.S. Patent Term Adjustment statute, Article 92(2) of
the Korean Patent Act calls for deductions from a PTA
award for applicant delay, but it appears that KIPO even will
count the time between an Office Action and
a timely filed response as
"delay" if the response included any claim amendments,
and also will count as delay every day
between the date a Notice of Allowance is mailed and the date the
issue fee is paid. The PTA available under this statute is similar
to an award of PTA for
"B" type delay in the U.S., since every day
after the four/three year period counts as KIPO delay.
