North Korea

GENERAL INFORMATION

Area: 122,370 sq. km.

Population: 26,298,666 (2024).

Capital: Pyongyang.

Language: Korean.

Currency: Won.

 

 

GENERAL REMARKS

Industrial development is concentrated on heavy industry: electricity, metallurgy, machine building and chemicals, plus textiles and food processing.

 

 

PATENTS OF INVENTION

LEGAL BASIS

• Law on Inventions, in force since May 13, 1998, last amended on August 29, 2023.
• Implementing Regulations of March 1999, last amended on November 20, 2023.
• Detailed Regulations of October 1999 under the Regulations of March 1999 for the Implementation of the Law on Inventions, last amended on June 28, 2021

 

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, Stockholm Act, since June 10, 1980.
• Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), since July 8, 1980.

 

FILING REQUIREMENTS

• Power of Attorney (no legalization or notarization);
• English and Korean specifications;
• Formal drawings;
• Priority document, if priority is claimed and if the patent application is filed directly without going through a PCT International Phase;
• Inventor’s Declaration, if the patent application is filed directly without going through a PCT international phase
• Assignment Deed, if the patent application is filed directly without going through a PCT international phase and the applicant(s) is different from the inventor(s);
• In case of entry into PCT national phase, International Search Report (ISR) with Written Opinion issued by the International Searching Authority (ISA).

 

 

REMARKS

National Phase of PCT: under Chapter 1: 30 months; under Chapter II: 30 months.

Validity: issued after a formal and full examination – valid for 20 years.

Annuities: to be paid each year within three months before the due date, the first time retroactively, within three months from the date of issue of the official notice of allowance.

Opposition: may be filed by any person at any time before granting a patent from the date of publication of the application in the Official Gazette.

 

 

TRADE AND SERVICE MARKS

LEGAL BASIS

• Law on Trademarks of 1998, last amended in June 2022.
• Implementing Regulations of September 1998, last amended in September 2022.

 

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, Stockholm Act, since June 10, 1980.
• Madrid Agreement, Stockholm Act, since June 10, 1980.
• Madrid Protocol, since October 3, 1996.

 

FILING REQUIREMENTS

• Power of Attorney (no legalization or notarization);
• Notarized copy of Certificate of Incorporation;
• Electronic copy of the mark;
• Priority document, if any;
• List of goods and services according to the Nice International Classification.

 

REMARKS

Kinds of protection: verbal, pictorial and other designations or their combination. Service marks are registrable.

Classification: International.

Obligation to use the registered mark: compulsory, a mark may be cancelled from the register when the registered mark has not been used for a period of three consecutive years.

Duration – renewals: 10-year period after the filing date or last renewal date.

Opposition: possible within three months from the date of publication of the trademark application.

 

 

INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS

LEGAL BASIS

• Law on Industrial Designs of 1999, last amended in February 2016.
• Implementing Regulations of September 1998, last amended in April 2016.

 

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, Stockholm Act, since June 10, 1980.
• Hague Agreement, since May 27, 1992 (Geneva Act since September 13, 2016).

 

FILING REQUIREMENTS

• Power of Attorney (no legalization or notarization);
• Notarized copy of Certificate of Incorporation;
• Inventor’s Declaration;
• Electronic copy of the drawings or the design;
• A description of the design including the usefulness and originality of the design;
• If priority is claimed, certified copy of priority document;
• The international classification is to be indicated.

 

REMARKS

Duration – renewals: after formal and substantive examination: 5 years from the filing date. Two additional 5-year periods possible.

Opposition: possible within twelve months from the filing date.

 

 

DOMAIN NAMES

LEGAL BASIS

• There is no specific legislation although some regulations on the organization and management of country code top-level domain names do exist.

 

FILING

• ccTLD: .kp
• Applicant: must be a company, organization or government entitiy based in DPR Korea.
• Local Presence: required.

 

REMARKS

Duration – renewals: one year, renewable.

Uniform dispute resolution procedure: none.

 

 

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