Korea has made two changes that give applicants more room when an application runs into problems:
- Partial refusal. If only some of the designated goods or services are objectionable, MOIP can refuse only those items and register the mark for the rest, instead of refusing the whole application.
- Re-examination. After a refusal decision, you can request re-examination by the examiner — typically together with amendments to the goods or services — instead of going straight to an appeal at the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board.
Both are welcome. But they have led some applicants to think they can simply ignore an office action and "let the problematic items fall away." In most cases, that is not the best strategy.
Why responding to the office action is usually better
1. It is faster. If you do not respond, the application waits until the response deadline passes and a refusal decision is issued before it can move on. Deleting or amending the problematic items in a timely response lets the examiner approve the rest without that delay.
2. You keep the goods you actually need. Many office actions in Korea concern unclear or overly broad descriptions. These can usually be fixed by rewording the item — not deleting it. If you let partial refusal remove the item, you lose protection you could have kept with a simple amendment.
3. You control the result. In a response, you decide exactly how each item is amended or narrowed. A partial refusal is decided by the examiner, item by item, on the basis of the objection.
4. It is cleaner for the future. A registration obtained through amendment has a clear, accurate list of goods. A record of refused items can complicate later filings for the same goods, and you may need a new application to recover what was lost.
5. Re-examination is a second chance, not the first choice. Re-examination is useful when a refusal has already been issued, but it means more time and cost than fixing the issue at the office action stage.
When partial refusal or re-examination makes sense
- Partial refusal: when the objected items are genuinely unimportant to you, and you have decided not to spend anything on them.
- Re-examination: when you missed the chance to respond, or new arguments or amendments become available after the refusal.
Our approach
When an office action arrives, we report it to you free of charge, explain each objection, and recommend the most efficient response — usually amending or deleting the problematic goods and, where useful, arguing against citations. For common description issues, the total response cost is generally below USD 400 (including the USD 4 official fee).
Email help@dusonlaw.com if you have received an office action in Korea.
This guide is general information, not legal advice.