2019 Annual Report Intellectual Property Office

II.IPR EXAMINATIONS AND SERVICES Second (and further) Office Actions Issued First Office Actions Issued Requests for Substantive Examination Procedure Second (and further) Office Actions Issued First Office Actions Issued Requests for Substantive Examination 2015 5,473 59,367 40,475 2016 6,545 49,930 38,382 2018 4,959 36,930 41,991 2019 4,965 38,397 42,987 2017 5,555 36,304 40,124 5,473 6,545 5,555 4,959 4,965 59,367 49,930 36,304 36,930 38,397 Year As shown in the above table, disposals included 30,987 allowances (75.4%), 9,144 rejections (22.3%) and 957 others including withdrawals (2.3%). Of these, the percentage of allowances decreased by 2.0%, while the percentage of rejections increased by 1.9% from the previous year. Pendency for Processing Examination of Invention Patent Applications The average first office action pendency for invention patent was 8.4 months, and the average disposal pendency was 13.6 months. As a result of implementing various measures to optimize patent examination quality and efficiency, the aforementioned pendency was the shortest since 2009. Note: 1."Average First Office Action Pendency" refers to the average time it takes to process a request for substantive examination from the time it is filed to the time of issuing a first office action. 2."Average Disposal Pendency" refers to the average time it takes to process a request for substantive examination from the time it is filed to the time a decision is issued. 3. Each figure refers to the average pendency as of the end of the indicated year. A total of 43,362 office actions for invention patent applications were issued, a 3.5% increase from the previous year (41,889). Of these, first office actions stood at 38,397 cases, and second (and further) office actions stood at 4,965 cases. In addition, a total of 102 final office actions were issued. Number of Office Actions for Invention Patent Examination Note: TIPO's patent administration system began to differentiate first and second (and further) office actions for invention patent examination in 2012. Average First Office Action Pendency (Months) Average Disposal Pendency (Months) 103 26.0 19.8 15.5 14.0 13.6 17.7 12.0 8.8 8.7 8.4 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Year 24