Indonesia and South Korea have opened a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) initiative, allowing applicants to use an existing Korean patent as a basis for obtaining patent rights in Indonesia. This development stems from the signing of two memoranda of understanding (MOUs) on September 8, 2023, between Indonesia’s Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO). One MOU covers the broad collaboration in intellectual property, while the other outlines the specific operational framework of the PPH mechanism.
According to Wongrat Ratanaprayul, a director at Tilleke & Gibbins in Jakarta, the success of the Japan PPH in reducing the burden for patent examiners and speeding up applications has led the DGIP to pursue establishing additional agreements with other patent offices. She said that given the high number of South Korean patent applications in Indonesia, a PPH with KIPO was “the logical choice.” Read more