South Korea’s Priority Examination Process For Green Energy Patents

With the January 28, 2025 termination of the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program (CCMPP), applicants for US patent protection have lost an important option for cost-effective prioritized examination of certain “green” patent applications. However, other options for prioritized examination of “green” patent applications remain throughout the world. This post is part of a series of posts exploring options for prioritized treatment of “green” patent applications in various jurisdictions outside the US.

The Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP) of the Republic of Korea (South Korea), pursuant to Patent Act Article 61 and the Notice on the Request for Priority Examination of Patents/Utility Models, the current version being MOIP Notice No. 2026-3 (in force February 23, 2026), allows priority examination of patent applications directly related to green technology under the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth for Coping with Climate Crisis.^{1 2 3 4} Since early 2025, such ‘green technology’ related patent applications that may receive priority examination include patent applications that fall within one of the following specifically predefined green energy technology categories:

• CO₂ Capture
• Advanced Nuclear Power
• Hydrogen and Ammonia
• Advanced Mobility
• Renewable Energy

Priority Examination Process – Petition

To take advantage of such expedited examination benefits, an Applicant must submit a petition for priority examination (which may be submitted with or subsequently to filing a substantive examination request). Unlike in the US, substantive examination in Korea is not automatic — the applicant must file a separate request for examination, due within three years of the filing date. The priority examination request may be filed concurrently with, or any time after, the request for examination — but not before it. There is no statutory due date for filing the petition: the petition simply must be on file before examination concludes, and in practice it should be filed as early as possible.

The petition submission comprises the priority examination request form, an accompanying statement of grounds for the petition, and documents establishing eligibility for priority examination. Notably, for the green technology route, the petition does not require submission of search results or relevant prior art to be granted.

The petition for priority examination must be submitted with a fee of 200,000 KRW for patents and 100,000 KRW for utility models. This fee is separate from, and in addition to, the fee for requesting substantive examination.

This petition can be a simple matter if the application has already been classified by MOIP as falling within a “green energy” technology category. MOIP classifies each newly-filed Korean patent application according to its technology field shortly after filing (approximately 1-2 months afterwards). Technology fields directed to the aforementioned predefined green energy technology categories are classified under MOIP’s carbon-neutral green-technology classification codes (the GAG/GAC/GBG series, for example GAGxxx codes, GACxxx codes, and GBGxxx codes, where xxx represents a three-digit number). Any Korean patent application that is classified by MOIP to fall within any of MOIP’s carbon-neutral green-technology classification codes will be deemed by MOIP to fall within the green energycategory.

In such cases, the applicant can easily obtain priority examination of a Korean patent application directed to a green energy technology by submitting the petition for priority examination and simply noting, in the petition, that the application has been classified according to one of MOIP’s carbon-neutral green-technology classification codes (e.g., one of the GAG/GAC/GBG series codes).

However, if a Korean patent application is not classified under a GAGxxx code, an applicant might still be able to obtain priority examination, but the applicant must file the petition for priority examination with a detailed explanation of why the Korean patent application should be regarded as a green energy technology.⁵ For example, the applicant could explain, in the petition: “The present invention relates to [technical feature], which falls under classification GAG800(carbon dioxide capture).” If this explanation is convincing to the examiner, the application may still qualify for priority examination.

Priority Examination Process – Decision and Timeframe to First Action

The decision on whether to grant priority examination is issued within about one month of filing the request. In practice the sequence is: the request undergoes a formality examination (about 7 days); the case is then transferred to the examiner; and the priority-examination decision is made within about 7 days of the examiner’s receipt of the case, with the balance of the month covering classification and internal transfer.

If the petition for priority examination is granted, the first action on the merits is typically mailed about two to three months after the submission of the petition, thereby significantly expediting examination of Korean patent applications directed to green energy technologies.⁶

In particular, after the priority examination decision, the examiner must commence examination by the last day of the month in which the two-month period from the dispatch date of the priority examination decision falls (three months for PPH/PCT-PPH cases). Measured from the request date, a first result is therefore generally issued within about three months (four months for PPH cases), plus any delay where the statement or supporting documents require supplementation.

As a practical benchmark, MOIP’s 2026 figures put the average first-action waiting period for priority examination at roughly 2.1 months, versus about 14.7 months for ordinary examination.

Priority Examination Process – Timeframes after First Action

Priority (expedited) treatment continues through the remainder of prosecution, and subsequent actions are handled out of turn. As in the US analogy, however, Korea’s priority examination does not impose any shortened response deadline on the applicant. Where a Notification of Grounds for Rejection (의견제출통지서) issues, the applicant receives the standard designated response period — typically four months, with extensions available — to file a written response (의견서) and/or amendment (보정서). A final disposition generally follows within about four months of the priority examination decision.

For re-examination timing after the applicant responds, MOIP applies the following:

• If the applicant, within the four-month response period, files a request to shorten the office-action response period (OA기간단축신청), the case is processed within four months from the date the examiner receives the case after the period is shortened.

• If no such shortening request is filed, the case is processed within four months from the date the examiner receives the case after the response due date has passed.

MOIP notes that actual processing time may vary with the technology field, the examiner’s workload, the scope of the amendments, and whether additional prior-art review is required. In short, an applicant wishing to accelerate further can file the OA-shortening request so that the examiner takes up the case without waiting for the response period to expire.

Benefits for US Applicants.

Applicants wishing to speed up examination of their US applications directed to qualifying green energy technologies as recognized by MOIP without paying the prioritized examination fee may benefit from the Korean Priority Examination process by filing a corresponding application in Korea and requesting priority examination on grounds that the application is directed to a qualifying green energy technology. Once MOIP indicates that claims in the Korean application are allowable, the applicant can petition to make their US application special under the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) and can amend the claims of their US application to match the allowed claims of the Korean application. A US application that is made special under the PPH will be advanced out of turn for examination and will continue to be treated as special throughout the entire examination process.⁷

As of October 2025, the pendency of US applications made special under the PPH is based on technology area, with the USPTO targeting a pendency for PPH applications of approximately half the time of non-PPH applications in the same technology area.⁸

Even if an applicant does not pursue examination under the PPH in the US, Korea’s Priority Examination process can provide US applicants with a better understanding of the closest prior art to their inventions. This knowledge can be used to guide Applicants’ claim amendments early on in the examination process, which may help reduce the overall duration of prosecution.

Alternatively, Applicants who would like a search performed in the US or another patent office before examination in Korea can file an international (PCT) application designating the US or other patent office as their International Search Authority (ISA). Once the applicant receives a favorable written opinion from the ISA, the applicant can enter the national stage in Korea and request Priority Examination on grounds of the application being directed to a qualifying green energy technology (and then pursuing US application claims corresponding to Korean patent claims allowed under the Priority Examination process).

Footnotes

1 https://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/scp/docs/expedited-examination-republic-of-korea.pdf

2 https://kipo.go.kr/en/HtmlApp?c=92102&catmenu=ek03_01_01_03#a4_1

3 https://www.kipo.go.kr/upload/en/download/Patent_Examination_Guidelines_2023.pdf

4 https://www.kipo.go.kr/en/HtmlApp?c=92102&catmenu=ek03_01_01_03

5 See, e.g., https://www.wipo.int/documents/d/scp/docs-en-expedited-examination-expedited_examination-republic-of-korea.pdf

6 See, e.g., https://www.kipo.go.kr/upload/en/download/examination_procedure.pdf

7 MPEP § 708.02(VI).

8 https://www.uspto.gov/subscription-center/2025/update-patent-prosecution-highway-docketing